Sugar Land honored with What Works Cities Gold Certification for data and transparency

The Sugar Land City Council recognized the city’s achievement of the Bloomberg Philanthropies What Works Cities Gold Certification during its Feb. 3 meeting.

Shayla Lee, director of strategic and governmental affairs, said the certification ‘‘exemplifies our city's commitment to transparency, accountability, and ensuring that we are continuously improving our… open data portals’’ and emphasized the staff and council effort required to reach the standard. Mayor Carol McCutcheon read a proclamation noting that the What Works Cities initiative (launched by Bloomberg Philanthropies and led by Results for America) helps cities adopt data practices and build staff capacity for evidence-based decision-making.

The council presented a proclamation and thanked members of the data and innovation team for their work. The recognition was framed as part of ongoing city efforts to use data to guide investments and increase public access to information.