Giving Compass' Take:

• Ambassador Sarah Mendelson and Anthony F. Pipa explore how U.S. cities are stepping up to the challenge of the Sustainable Development Goals and what is needed to move the needle. 

• How can funders help cities lead progress on the SDGs? What is your city already doing that aligns with the global goals? 

• Learn about the importance of improving cities to improve the world. 

As the federal government sits at the nexus of political divisions and the unraveling of long-standing international norms and alliances, U.S. cities are becoming standard bearers of American leadership here and abroad. The SDGs represent an agenda that aligns with the local goals of U.S. cities while offering the opportunity to speak in a common language and showcase U.S. innovation, pragmatism, and values—and drive global progress.

To achieve the ambitious SDG agenda, cities will need public support and citizen engagement, which requires understanding where the passions of their residents overlap with city priorities and building coalitions of diverse stakeholders to strengthen the social fabric. Listening and responding to citizens’ needs can help deliver the SDG agenda. It also means integrating different but equally important dimensions of development. Policies meant to advance progress on climate change, for example, must simultaneously address inequities and inequality of opportunity, helping to create peaceful, just, and inclusive societies. The SDGs are not an “either/or” agenda—they require leaders to think in terms of “both/and.” Cities are places where this can happen most naturally.

The SDGs reflect the strongly held U.S. imperative to create an economy of opportunity that achieves “the American Dream” and promotes economic mobility for all. Yet only two metro areas in the U.S. during the recent economic expansion have improved wages and employment for whites and workers of color, closing disparities. SDG targets and metrics provide a basis for helping cities address tough issues like homelessness, affordability, and health and educational outcomes, mobilizing policy and resources that take into account the most vulnerable, and enable their social and human development.

Read the full article about U.S. Cities And the Sustainable Development Goals by Ambassador Sarah Mendelson and Anthony F. Pipa at Brookings.