Communities of Excellence 2026

A Systematic Approach to Excellence in Communities: Using a Baldrige-based Framework to Lead Transformation

What challenges does your community face?

What are the most important opportunities to improve the overall health and well-being of the people in your community?

Are all key stakeholders—residents, businesses, educational institutions, health care providers, government agencies, and nonprofits—working together to develop shared strategies and action plans to solve the most important challenges?

And if your community were a business or a nonprofit organization, would it be considered high performing, merely average, or fighting for its very survival?

About Communities of Excellence

Communities of Excellence 2026 (COE2026) was founded in 2010 and incorporated in 2013 as a national, independent nonprofit to advance the common good by providing a roadmap to sustainable community performance excellence. The roadmap allows communities to face their challenges with a proven course of action, while demanding high performance and a commitment to achieve desired outcomes.

COE2026 and the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program believe that the systems approach to leadership, management, and continuous improvement found in the Baldrige Excellence Framework can be adapted to achieve performance excellence in communities. COE2026 supports and recognizes communities as they work together to systematically identify, implement, and sustain improvements that enrich the opportunities, health, and well-being of their people.

Collaboration

The Baldrige Program and COE2026 collaborate in these areas:

• Adapt the Baldrige Framework to develop a Community Performance Excellence Framework
• Educate individuals and organizations on the framework
• Encourage community assessments against the framework
• Share best practices identified through assessments

Learn More

Visit Communities of Excellence 2026 to learn how your community can achieve and sustain the highest quality of life for its people.