Commitments

Twenty-two key indicators organized into five priority areas to help communities define success and measure progress

  • Belonging

    Vibrant and inclusive communities

  • Opportunity

    Thriving and upwardly mobile communities

  • Wellbeing

    Joyful and healthy communities

  • Mobility

    Vibrant and inclusive communities

  • Environment

    Thriving and upwardly mobile communities

Download the Commitments Matrix

Browse Commitments by Priority

1

Civic Participation

Nurture and expand opportunities for local leadership and community involvement
2

Housing Access

Promote access to stable and affordable housing options
3

Culture & Identity

Foster and celebrate cultural diversity, heritage, and expression
4

Local Economy / Entrepreneurship

Nurture local businesses and services that meet the needs of the community
5

Education

Increase access to quality education and lifelong learning opportunities
6

Employment & Workforce

Promote full and productive employment and economic opportunity
7

Digital Connectivity

Provide access to affordable and reliable broadband services
8

Active Living

Encourage physical activity in everyday life
9

Health

Foster physical, emotional, psychological, and social well-being
10

Safety

Ensure community members feel secure and respected
11

Parks & Open Space

Ensure access to open spaces and natural areas
12

Food

Provide access to healthy and affordable fresh food
13

Street Network

Increase connectivity and safety of street network
14

Multimodality

Promote walking, cycling, and micro-mobility options
15

Transit

Enhance public transit options and access
16

Electric Vehicles

Foster widespread electric vehicle adoption and affordability
17

Climate

Commit to decarbonization and climate resilience
18

Energy

Promote energy efficiency and clean energy generation
19

Water

Promote comprehensive sustainable water management
20

Air Quality

Commit to clean air
21

Biodiversity & Ecosystem Health

Strengthen ecological diversity and habitat functionality
22

Waste

Commit to net zero waste and building a local circular economy

WHY JUST COMMUNITIES COMMITMENTS?

The Just Communities Commitments were developed to explicitly tackle and address the most complex challenges facing communities today – rapid growth, blight and deteriorating infrastructure, lack of economic opportunity, environmental pollution, climate disruption, and health inequities – helping resident leaders, place-based organizations, developers, and government authorities:

Shape decision making

The Just Communities Commitments establish a transformative approach to comprehensive decision-making that moves beyond reactive, fragmented processes toward strategic, values-driven systems that align investments with community priorities and track meaningful progress over time. These structured yet flexible set of metrics ensures greater collaboration and buy in among stakeholders.

Key benefits include:

  • Developing meaningful metrics
  • Setting clear, achievable targets
  • Creating transparent measurement systems
  • Committing to a mutual accountability framework
Spark collaboration

The Just Communities Commitments serve as a powerful set of metrics for transcending traditional siloed approaches to community development by catalyzing meaningful collaboration across a set of interconnected issue areas and stakeholders. This commitment to collaboration and multi-solving enables communities to address complex, interconnected challenges through coordinated action and agreement to measure impact across five key priority areas.

Key benefits include:

  • Building trust among a broad number of stakeholder and community interests
  • Developing inclusive priority-setting processes
  • Translating values into concrete priorities

 

Harness local wisdom

The Just Communities Commitments represent a transformative approach to community development that places local knowledge, lived experience, and collective wisdom at the center of decision-making processes. By elevating community voice beyond traditional consultation to true co-creation, these metrics fundamentally reshape how neighborhood priorities are established and implemented.

Key benefits include:

  • Establishing community-defined priorities
  • Committing to community vetted data and story mapping
  • Leveling the playing field between residents, civic organizations, local businesses, developers, infrastructure providers, and city officials
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