Polco's Good Governance Awards
Recognizing the best of local government through people, performance, and place.
Polco is proud to present the Good Governance Awards – the nation’s only awards program honoring communities for both resident experience and measurable outcomes. These prestigious awards highlight local governments that stand out as the most effective, innovative, and community-centered across the country.
Good Governance Award Categories
Each year, communities are recognized not only for earning the highest ratings from their residents, but also for demonstrating the greatest improvement over time. With a robust dataset spanning hundreds of local governments, these awards provide a credible and competitive benchmark for measuring progress and success.
In addition to recognizing top performers and most improved communities, Polco also honors local governments that excel in digital engagement—using tools like pulse surveys, priority-setting exercises, and budget simulations. These communities set the standard for innovative, inclusive resident engagement that strengthens trust and informs better decision-making.
Polco presents Good Governance Awards in the following categories:
Community Connection
Governance
Engagement
Economy
Education, Arts & Culture
Health & Wellness
Housing & Community Design
Mobility
Natural Environment
Parks & Recreations
Safety
Utilities
Types of Good Governance Awards
Together the Voice of the People and Community Impact categories showcase the best in local government — through both resident opinion and public data outcomes.
The Voice of the People
When residents speak, government should listen.
For nearly two decades, Polco has recognized excellence in local government with the nation’s most trusted honors based on resident feedback and nationwide benchmarks. The awards in this category stand apart because they are grounded in representative, methodologically sound data collected through The National Community Survey™ and other nationally benchmarked engagement tools.
Recognition for:
Communities with the highest levels of resident satisfaction and trust in their government and community.
Evidence Type:
Resident experience, perceptions, and satisfaction - survey data benchmarked against hundreds of other communities.
Why it matters:
Resident opinion is one of the most important outcomes of government performance - it reflects how policies, services, and leadership are experienced by the people.
Community Impact
Recognizing communities with outstanding performance across 400+ indicators.
Launched in 2024, the Community Impact categories celebrate the top-performing communities in each of 9 key livability domains. Drawing on Polco’s GPAL (Government Performance Action & Learning) dataset of more than 400 public indicators, these awards showcase local governments achieving measurable results that improve quality of life.
Recognition for:
Communities that demonstrate outstanding results across more than 400 public data indicators (GPAL), covering areas such as health, safety, economy, environment, and equity.
Evidence Type:
External, publicly available datasets showing measurable community outcomes.
Why it matters:
Public data tells the story of real-world performance and outcomes that can be tracked consistently across all 20,000 U.S. cities and counties.
Celebrating the Best at ICMA 2025
The Good Governance Awards represent the highest standard in local government achievement—through both the voice of residents and the evidence of outcomes.
The 2025 award winners will be revealed weekly on Polco’s social media channels leading up to the ICMA National Conference in Tampa. National Champions will be announced at the conference, with all honorees celebrated at Polco’s booth.
The Good Governance Awards program is an expansion and rebrand of our Voice of the People Awards, retaining the VOP as an essential category, but recognizing excellence in new categories of engagement and community impact.