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Savannah wins What Works Cities silver certification for data-driven governance
Summary
Mayor Van R. Johnson II announced that Savannah has received What Works Cities silver certification from Bloomberg Philanthropies and Results for America after a multi-year effort to build citywide data capacity and practices.
Savannah Mayor Van R. Johnson II announced Thursday that the city achieved What Works Cities silver certification from Bloomberg Philanthropies and Results for America, recognizing a multi-year effort to improve municipal data practices.
City officials said the certification — part of an international effort that benchmarks local government use of data — reflects work to establish a citywide data leadership team, adopt a data strategy and apply data to issues including housing, recreation, crime and urban forestry. "We're on our way to platinum, y'all," Johnson said as he presented a proclamation celebrating the accomplishment.
Joe Schierals, chief of information and public affairs, told the council the certification was the result of a two-year, organization-wide effort directed by the city manager after council set a vision to use data more effectively. "It's a very rigorous and challenging process," Schierals said, and he acknowledged a core team that drove the work: Tim Moody, Angel Howard, Danny Beckman, Sarah Saunders, Daniel Colello, David Higdon, Manny Dominguez, Jennifer Blaylock and Sablanka Sergova.
Officials said the What Works Cities process evaluated Savannah's foundational data practices, staff skills, and infrastructure; city staff led an assessment and developed a roadmap for next steps. The mayor and staff framed the certification as a tool to improve transparency and policy decisions by connecting data to quality of life outcomes. "We don't want to make decisions based off emotion or politics," Johnson said; the certification helps the city measure and track results, according to his remarks.
City leaders said the certification will be used to pursue further improvements, including stronger data governance and additional staffing and tools. Schierals and others said the administration and council aim to continue toward higher certification tiers.
The council observed the recognition and acknowledged the staff team, and Schierals said the city will continue reporting on data-driven initiatives and pursue gold or platinum certification in the future.
