Both of us remember the moment in 2015 that leaders from all 193 countries at the United Nations unanimously agreed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

After three years of negotiation, at the precipice of finalizing the framework, we spent several hours working feverishly among a small group to hammer out final details. We knew it had to be right, as over the course of the negotiations, countries as well as policymakers, researchers, activists, and civil society had come to realize that our combined social, economic, and environmental futures were intertwined. The SDGs provided a vision we all wanted to support and achieve — and the joy and solidarity in the room when we hit on the final resolution was palpable and inspiring.

Since then, in the midst of all else that has happened globally in the past six years, it’s important to recognize that communities worldwide have continued to bring these Global Goals home — and make them a reality for real people in real neighborhoods.

That is as true in the United States as it is elsewhere. Across states and sectors of American society, the SDGs are becoming a unifying rallying cry — and a common blueprint — to solve universal and interrelated problems like hunger, poverty, and inequality by 2030.

What makes the SDGs unique? We are more likely to mend what we measure. The SDGs offer clear benchmarks that enable people at all levels to work together toward a resilient future where no one is left behind. As a road map, they offer a foundation for partnerships to track progress at a company, community, or city level, as well as across countries. Through authentic commitments to the SDGs, concrete plans, actions, and goals take root.

And across American society, the SDGs have been embraced in diverse places and in unique ways.

Read the full article about commitment to the SDGs in the United States by Kaysie Brown and Anthony Pipa at United Nations Foundation.