The International Code Council’s Building Safety Month campaign continues into its third week with an emphasis on building safety preparedness. Preparing and planning for potential disasters can significantly diminish building damage and help ensure the resiliency and sustainability of communities around the world.

Week Three: Building Your Defense, emphasizes how building safety impacts everyday lives and highlights fire and water safety tips, as well as how to limit damage to buildings during natural disasters.

“Strong communities start with good preparation,” said David Spencer, Code Council Board president. “Through small actions like developing a fire escape plan and preparing an emergency kit, you’re not just planning ahead, you’re protecting what matters most.”

Communities nationwide are issuing proclamations declaring May 2025 as Building Safety Month. View the proclamations here or submit one here.

To participate in Building Safety Month:

• Visit buildingsafetymonth.org/
• Download the promotional toolkit.
• Discover resources for planning Building Safety Month events. 

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced the 16 local governments that will participate in the 2025 LEED for Cities Certification Cohort. The program supports efforts from local governments nationwide to maximize efficiency, resilience, health, and quality of life for residents.

USGBC helps cohort participants build plans and capacity to achieve sustainability goals, including LEED for Cities certification. Through their participation, local governments set goals, collect data, and validate performance against standardized sustainability and quality of life metrics in the LEED for Cities rating system.

“City governments play a critical role in advancing public and environmental health, resilience and economic prosperity across their communities,” said Peter Templeton, USGBC president and CEO. “We applaud this cohort for prioritizing these outcomes and committing to meaningful actions on sustainability and community wellbeing. The LEED for Cities framework helps local governments track performance, identify opportunities for improvement, and implement best practices—delivering near-term benefits and lasting positive impact.”

The annual cohort is a component of USGBC’s Local Government Leadership Program. The program is made possible through a partnership with Bank of America and has provided direct support to nearly 120 U.S. local governments representing 55 million people. The program aims to equip local leaders with the tools they need to be successful in advancing green building and sustainable development practices in their communities and accelerate progress on sustainability and climate action in cities, towns, and counties across the U.S.

The 2025 cohort represents a combined population of more than 14 million people. Participating local governments include:

• Ashland, Massachusetts
• Aurora, Illinois
• Brighton, Colorado
• Cook County, Illinois (Chicago)
• Delray Beach, Florida
• Farmers Branch, Texas
• Harris County, Texas
• King County, Washington (Seattle)
• Lafayette, Indiana
• Lincoln, Nebraska
• Mercer Island, Washington
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Riverside, California
• Sun Prairie, Wisconsin
• West Lafayette, Indiana

Since the program’s inception in 2017, resilience and sustainability have become increasingly important factors in every community’s success. Using the LEED for Cities rating system, local governments demonstrate their performance in resilience planning, energy efficiency, green spaces, mobility management, public health, responsible procurement, stormwater management, and green building policy.

In addition to the national certification cohort, the Local Government Leadership Program includes regional leadership summits to deepen engagement with local governments and facilitate sharing of best practices on green building and sustainable development. The program has also established LEED for Cities Accelerators to assist local governments new to LEED for Cities with collecting data, benchmarking sustainability performance, and navigating the certification program.

Learn more about the Local Government Leadership Program.

For more information, visit the LEED for Cities page.