STAR MESSAGING & LINGO
Understanding the STAR basics to communicate effectively
ELEVATOR SPEECH
An elevator speech explains what a program is and how it accomplishes its goals. As the name suggests, it
should inform an audience about the program as thoroughly and appealingly as possible in a short period of
time. The elevator speech can be delivered in conversations or prepared as a written statement for use on a
website or printed materials.
STAR Communities is a nonprofit organization that works to evaluate, improve and certify sustainable
communities. STAR helps cities and counties achieve a healthy environment, a strong economy and well
being for their residents. Technical experts, sustainability leaders and local government officials
developed our rating system to provide a transparent and data-driven mechanism to improve local
communities. STAR Communities leads communities to chart a clear path toward a sustainable future.
WHAT IS A SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITY?
A sustainable community promotes a healthy environment, a strong economy and well being for all residents,
now and for future generations.
WHAT IS STAR COMMUNITIES?
STAR Communities is a nonprofit organization that works to advance a national framework to evaluate and
certify sustainable communities in North America. We rate communities on 44 objectives including economic,
environmental and social performance measures. STAR’s rating criteria are designed to assess communities’
sustainability efforts in a clear and data-driven way.
WHAT IS THE STAR COMMUNITY RATING SYSTEM?
The STAR Community Rating System is the nation’s first comprehensive framework and certification program
for evaluating local sustainability, encompassing economic, environmental and social performance measures.
Local leaders use the rating system’s evaluation measures to assess their current level of sustainability, set
targets for moving ahead, and measure progress along the way.
WHO DEVELOPED THE STAR COMMUNITY RATING SYSTEM?
STAR was developed for local governments by local governments. Nearly 200 volunteers representing 50 cities
and counties, state and federal agencies, nonprofit organizations, national associations, universities, utilities
and private corporations contributed thousands of hours and diverse expertise to the development of the
STAR Community Rating System. Serving on steering, technical and ad hoc committees, these volunteer
experts led the development of the framework, credits, methodologies for measurement and requirements
for achieving and maintaining a STAR Community Rating.
WHAT IS IN THE RATING SYSTEM?
The STAR Community Rating System is organized around 7 thematic Goal Areas:
Goal Area
Built Environment
Climate & Energy
Education, Arts &
Community
Economy & Jobs
Equity &
Empowerment
Health & Safety
Natural Systems
Purpose and Intent
Achieve livability, choice, and access for all where people live, work, and play
Reduce climate impacts through adaptation and mitigation efforts and
increase resource efficiency
Empower vibrant, educated, connected, and diverse communities
Create equitably shared prosperity and access to quality jobs
Ensure equity, inclusion, and access to opportunity for all citizens
Strengthen communities to be healthy, resilient and safe places for residents
and businesses
Protect and restore the natural resource base upon which life depends
An eighth category, Innovation & Process, allows communities to get extra credit in areas where they excel
and propose new credits to support the evolution of sustainability practice.
Within the 7 Goal Areas, there are 44 Objectives. See the following framework of Goals & Objectives:
WHY IS STAR COMMUNITIES NEEDED?
Sustainability means different things to different people, so STAR provides a clear, data-driven approach to
assessing communities’ sustainability efforts. The STAR framework helps communities assess their efforts in
seven key areas and define sustainability for themselves. This robust framework is necessary for communities
to credibly track their progress toward overall sustainability objectives and to allow communities to compare
progress with each other.
WHO IS ELIGIBLE?
While anyone can download use the STAR Community Rating System as a guide to community sustainability, it
was designed for use by local (town, city, county) governments in the United States. The primary applicant for
STAR certification must be a local government. Other community partners, organizations, universities,
consultants and federal agencies can become STAR Affiliates to support STAR Communities' mission.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Communities sign up as a Member STAR Community and select from different levels of support as they work
to assess and certify their sustainability efforts. The Leadership program provides the highest level of support
from STAR Communities’ staff, including a dedicated STAR coordinator and ongoing educational webinars
about issues related to the rating system.
For communities that pursue certification, the rating system encompasses economic, environmental and social
performance measures for both local governments and the broader community. Communities must fill out an
online application detailing their achievements across 44 sustainability objectives, with a total of 526 different
measurable indicators. STAR Communities’ verification team then reviews the community’s application as an
independent third-party and awards a rating based upon a total cumulative score of points achieved.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF STAR?
The STAR Community Rating System provides a roadmap to help evaluate, assess and improve communities’
economic, environmental and social performance measures and become healthier and stronger. STAR allows
cities and counties to set a clear path for sustainability with helpful tools that measure and track progress
towards meaningful results that save money and improve communities.
WHICH COMMUNITIES ARE INVOLVED? WHO HAS BEEN CERTIFIED?
The list of STAR communities is always growing! As of August 2014, more than 80 communities are currently
engaged with STAR in some way, representing more than 34 million people. See an updated map of
communities here. STAR communities are diverse in size, geography, and demographics. STAR communities
are as large as Houston, TX (2.2 million population) and as small as Nederland, CO (1,478 population).
As of summer 2014, 20 communities have been certified – see the list of certified communities here.
HOW DOES THE CERTIFICATION PROCESS WORK?
The primary applicant for a STAR Community Rating is a local government - a town, city or county government.
Participating local governments fill out the online application by providing data on a variety of community
sustainability indicators and coordinating data collection from outside agencies and community partners.
Once a community submits a completed application, STAR Communities’ staff review and verify data for
accuracy, and then assign a rating upon a total cumulative score of points achieved out of a maximum of 720
points.
Communities receive a rating based on the number of points achieved across the menu-based rating system.
Communities choose the measures that they would like to report on and are not required to submit on all
measures. This allows local governments to report on the objectives that are most important and relevant to
their communities.
Since STAR is a menu and communities decide which measures to report on, the final scores do not provide a
true head-to-head comparison. Instead, the STAR Community Rating System includes 3 certification levels,
making it a rating (not a ranking) system.
Points required for the certification levels are as follows:
 3-STAR Community - 200-399 points
o Recognized for sustainability leadership
 4-STAR Community - 400-599 points
o Recognized for national excellence
 5-STAR Community - 600+ points
o Recognized as top tier achiever in national sustainability
A STAR Community Rating lasts for 3 years after the certification date.
WHAT IS THE LEADERSHIP PROGRAM?
Modeled after the successful STAR Pilot Program, the Leadership STAR Community Program supports a cohort
of cities, towns and counties as they collect and report data in order to receive a certified STAR Community
Rating. Leadership STAR Communities have extensive access to STAR Communities staff and on-call experts,
online tools, training programs (both web-based and in-person), technical assistance and other services
associated with the STAR Community Rating System.
Through this one-year program, Leadership STAR Communities gain tools to measure progress towards a
common set of sustainability metrics; access to STAR’s online platform to track the community’s sustainability
data; opportunities to learn best practice from other communities; and assistance in sustainability messaging
and storytelling. At the end of the year, communities apply for STAR certification.
CONTACT:
If you have questions or require more information, please contact:
Lacey Shaver
Outreach Coordinator, STAR Communities
lacey@starcommunities.org
(855) 890-7827 ext. 105