Spotlight on LDA-SI Grantee: City of Los Angeles, U.S.A. (2018-2019 cohort)
Written by Jay Neuner with Sandra Ruckstuhl
In 2018, TReNDS launched a microgrant program through SDSN’s Local Data Action Solutions Initiative (LDA-SI). During this calendar year, the program is supporting five sub-national SDG data and monitoring efforts. Through real-world examples, these projects are generating a series of adaptable models that can be utilized in locations around the world to improve local SDG achievement. Learn more about the program here.
How can we measure the capacity of a city to support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? Urban areas worldwide are adding their voices to global and national efforts in sustainable development, but challenges remain in taking targets and indicators measured at a national level and applying them to sub-national strategies.
The City of Los Angeles is one region assuming the mantle of urban leadership on the SDGs. It is partnering with local academic institutions–including Occidental College, the University of California Los Angeles, the University of Southern California, and Arizona State University–to strategically incorporate the SDGs into its plans, projects, partnerships, and budgets. With support from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the Office of Mayor Eric Garcetti was able to bring Ms. Erin Bromaghim to the team to lead L.A.'s work on localizing the SDGs. As a 2018-2019 LDA-Si microgrant program participant, the City of Los Angeles will build on past work that aligned current plans and commitments, budgets, the efforts of its county and local stakeholders, and available data sources and metrics already tracked by the city.
The City of Los Angeles is aligning existing, local sustainability plans with the global SDG goals, targets, and indicators. Source: Nick Reynolds via Unsplash
In this second phase of work supported by LDA-SI, the city will map key stakeholders across sectors, identifying their roles as related to SDG achievement and monitoring and pinpointing where they intersect with other stakeholders’ efforts. This analysis will include not only government agencies, but also nonprofits, businesses, and other groups. Stemming from these mapping exercises, the project will produce a multi-sector monitoring plan and identify new ways for cities to adapt global indicators to the local level.
As befits an urban leader, the City of Los Angeles’ work aims to be a case study for sub-national adoption of the SDGs, and perhaps a template for how other cities and sub-national governments can follow the same path and support achievement of the goals by 2030.