Localizing the 2030 SDGS in the U.S. as an America first policy

There is a need to re-examine the strategy for meeting American security, health, and prosperity goals, ensuring effectiveness, accountability, and scalability. The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) comprise a policy framework designed to address issues that are preventing local communities from flourishing. The SDGs were shaped by the largest public consultation that the United Nations (UN) has ever conducted, in which the American people significantly participated. The United States, a member of the UN General Assembly, voted to adopt the SDGs in 2015 though it has yet to implement the framework for its local communities.³ In alignment with America’s new strategy, utilizing the SDGs can help the U.S. meet its ambitious but tangible goals for American security, health, and prosperity.

This policy brief draws upon the work of researchers, community leaders, and practitioners at the intersection of community development and public policy. Policymakers, decision-makers, and the public are offered a set of key findings and recommendations to help implement the SDGs locally and to inspire national action. Recommendations include policies that enable goal attainment by identifying local needs and opportunities for community development projects, delivering ways that track progress towards the goals, and defining processes that allow communities to learn, adapt and scale up resiliency.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

• The 2030 SDGs are a measurable framework for helping countries make their communities more secure, prosperous, and influential.
• Delivering security and prosperity as measured by the SDGs on the local and state level has not yet come to fruition.
• Policy recommendations for a successful solution include adopting a participatory community strategy, developing tracking and accountability tools, and promoting inter-community collaboration and sharing of relevant data.
• Examples of solutions in action at the community level are demonstrated by Washington, Hawai’i, and Indiana.