Our Core Purpose and Values Provide a Guide for How We Serve the Community

When new employees begin working for the City of Redwood City, they receive a ribbon-bound scroll containing our Core Purpose and Core Values. These are important parts of our organizational culture here, and are the guiding principles for our work in serving the community.

Our Core Purpose is best described as the reason for the City’s existence. Our Core Values are those basic values which make Redwood City the service organization that it is today.

The Core Purpose of the employees of Redwood City is:

Build a Great Community Together

This simple statement contains a great deal of meaning: it points to the need for engaging our citizens in an effort to create a true community; a community where there is a "sense of belonging," a place where there is trust and relationships among our citizens, and where people know their neighbors. A community is a place where citizens take the responsibility and accountability to partner with the City to achieve our mutual vision of a great community.

To carry out our Core Purpose, the following four Core Values guide our day-to-day work, and help us focus on our Core Purpose:

Excellence: Passion to Do Our Best in Each Moment
Integrity: Do the Right Thing, Not the Easy Thing
Service: We Care and It Makes a Difference
Creativity: Freedom to Imagine and Courage to Act

Under the typical stresses and pressures of making ends meet with limited or declining revenues, we sometimes risk losing sight of our purpose and values. However, as the City Council and staff navigate their way through difficult financial times, it’s even more important that our decisions, especially the tough decisions, really reflect our values and purpose. This will serve the city and the community well in making the right decisions, in respecting our customers and each other, and in preparing for the future.

Our Core Purpose and Core Values help enhance our community, and strengthen the abilities, talents, and skills that our employees have in such abundance. We try to remember that what we do, every day, affects the quality of life for many, many people throughout our community.

The hard work and professional effort put forth by Redwood City’s employees each day truly makes a difference – our Core Purpose and Core Values put into words what we all do, as professionals, on behalf of our community.