Hamilton was awarded a Silver Certification for achieving between 51 and 67 per cent of the criteria.
The City of Hamilton recently received Silver Certification from the What Works Cities Certification Program launched by Bloomberg Philanthropies and led by Results for America.
The certification “recognizes and celebrates local governments for their exceptional use of data to inform policy decisions, allocate funding, improve services, evaluate the effectiveness of programs and engage residents.”
The What Works Cities Certification measures a city’s use of data based on 43 different criteria.
Hamilton was awarded a Silver Certification for achieving between 51 and 67 per cent of the criteria.
Gold Certification is awarded to cities that achieve between 68 and 84 per cent of the criteria, while Platinum Certification is awarded to cities that achieve 85 per cent or higher.
The City of Hamilton became one of the first Canadian cities to receive certification, with Calgary, Edmonton, and Winnipeg all earning the honour at the same time.
The program was launched in 2017.
There are eight foundational practices that cities are judged on. Those are data management, the standard of their evaluations, leadership and capacity, open data, performance and analytics, data-driven budgeting and financing, results-driven contracting, and stakeholder impact.
Certification is open to all cities in North, Central and South America with a population of at least 30,000.
Rochelle Haynes, Managing Director of the Bloomberg Philanthropies What Works Cities Certification, said in a press release, “At a time when people are questioning the role of government, and what good government looks like, governments must be better at using data to know what is and isn’t working.”
“Over one hundred cities are now showing what is possible by investing the time, energy, and political capital to shift the culture of how local government works,” Haynes continued.
James Anderson, who leads the Government Innovation program at Bloomberg Philanthropies, added, “Whether to stem housing shortages, reduce traffic fatalities, or improve resident service and responsiveness, these city halls are tapping data, digital, and artificial intelligence to rise to the challenge – and we are thrilled to support their progress.”
The City of Hamilton was particularly recognized for their CityLAB program which is a partnership between municipal staff, Mohawk College, McMaster University, and Redeemer University that brings together academics, students, and civic leaders to work on city-identified projects.
Through the program, city staff identify relevant projects and then work with faculty and courses from Hamilton’s three post-secondary institutions to create reports or gather data that can assist the municipality.
Cyrus Tehrani, the City of Hamilton’s Chief Information Officer, says that they hope to achieve Gold and even Platinum Certification in the future.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
