Measuring Outcomes: Engage community members and partners in identifying, measuring, and reporting progress on key sustainability and social indicators/ including energy use/greenhouse gas emissions, social vitality/social inclusion outcome measures.

Reports: 

• The following dashboards are examples of how communities are tracking toward the goals from published plans, because being transparent in progress is important. [3 Star]
  • Burnsville Sustainability Hub 
  • St. Paul Climate Action Dashboard 
  • Bloomington. Tomorrow. Together. (BTT) Strategic Planning Dashboard
• The City of St. Anthony Village uses a visual story map to show sustainability progress. [1 and 2 Star]
• Developing case studies, such as the State of Minnesota’s Office of Enterprise Sustainability, can be helpful tools for documenting indicators and sharing it with the public. [1 and 2 Star]

Measures & Indicators: 

• Use the GreenStep Cities Step 4 & 5 metrics to help map out possible indicators. Visualize and share progress with the Step 4 & 5 Metric Dashboard. [Applicable to 1, 2, and 3 Star implementation.]
• See for example sustainability indicators from the Greater MSP Regional Indicators Dashboard. [1 Star]
• For city-wide GHG data, use the Regional Indicators Initiative website, developed by LHB Architects and GreenStep, which covers GHG data for selected GreenStep cities. For cities within the Twin Cities Metro Council area, see the Twin Cities Greenhouse Gas Inventory. [1, 2, and 3 Star]
• See the federal Dept. of Energy's State and Local Energy Data web site for more city-level data. For cities in Xcel Energy service area, see the Community Energy Reports and Partners in Energy Reports. [1, 2, and 3 Star]
• For social and other indicators, use MN Compass (social, economic, health) and the Thrive Indicator Dashboard (Met Council). [1, 2, and 3 Star]
• See a list of social vitality indicators and metric definitions for the areas of educational attainment, civic participation & social capital, arts & culture, community health, crime & safety, social vulnerability/resilience, livability, and social & cultural diversity. See also the racial equity toolkit and assessment worksheet for analyzing how a policy, initiative, program or budget issue will increase or decrease racial equity, from the Government Alliance on Race & Equity (2016), which has been working with cities on race/equity plans, through the League of MN Cities. Consultant Be-Bold Services prepared a set of possible equity-related indicators as part of the Equity in Action Database. [1, 2, and 3 Star]
• For zip code-level household consumption-based GHG data, use the map prepared by the CoolClimate Network and see a Minnesota consumption-based GHG inventory from 2013. See also a web-based calculator for one's water footprint that includes direct water use and the water used to provide products such as almonds. [1 star]
• Developed for a village-like Minneapolis neighborhood of 7,000 people, the Neighborhood Sustainability Indicators Guidebook (Ken Meter, Crossroads Resource Center: 1999) defines indicators appropriate for many cities in Minnesota. [1, 2, and 3 Star]
• LEED for Cities & Communities program incorporates the best of the STAR Community Rating System within the LEED rating system structure. [1, 2, and 3 Star]

Support: 

• Inquire with your Regional Sustainable Development Partnership staff about current and future success indicator data available for your community. For example, see the Region Five Development Commission Comprehensive Regional Economic Development Strategy Annual Performance Progress Reports.
• The Center for Small Towns at the University of Minnesota - Morris has faculty and students who partner with small cities on data collection and other forms of support on specific issues identified by the city.
• The American Planning Association provides a guide for local government that defines sustainability, as well as how to implement, measure, and report it called Assessing Sustainability: A Guide for Local Governments (2011).