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Fort Worth receives What Works Cities silver certification for data-driven decision making
Summary
Fort Worth announced it earned its first What Works Cities certification (silver), recognizing citywide use of data and analytics; city leaders say the Fort Worth Lab and cross-department collaboration were key and staff will pursue higher certification.
Christiane Simmons of the Fort Worth Lab announced at the council meeting that Fort Worth has achieved the What Works Cities Certification at the silver level, the first time the city has earned the recognition.
The certification, a program of Bloomberg Philanthropies and Results for America, recognizes cities that systematically use data to inform decisions rather than treating data projects as occasional efforts. Simmons said the certification process used 43 criteria, including a multi-day site visit, and that staff credited the Fort Worth Lab’s work and department-wide collaboration for reaching the milestone.
Simmons told the council the city certified at silver and that staff have already begun reviewing criteria needed to reach gold. She named Amethyst Sloan as an earlier champion of the What Works Cities work and said the lab’s implementation and data-analytics support helped Fort Worth “pick up a lot of steam.”
City officials said the certification covers enterprise-wide practices such as data management and use in procurement and program evaluation. Simmons said about 104 jurisdictions in North and South America now hold a What Works Cities certification and described the award as competitive. She framed the accomplishment as an interim step: staff will continue work to meet additional criteria to pursue a gold rating.
The announcement was presented as an informational recognition; no council action or vote was recorded in the transcript.
