The six-month SDGs Cities Challenge commenced July 14, 2021, during the United Nations High-Level Political Forum for Sustainable Development as a “leadership-and-learning” training cohort for 8 U.S. local governments (city and county). Across 7 sessions and a collaborative research session, the project trained government staff on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) data tracking, community engagement processes, whole-of-governments approaches, budgeting for SDG impact, and international collaboration. Sessions were comprised of: technical training, guest speakers from leading city practitioners, and peer-learning facilitation. Each participant defined a “challenge” area to work on throughout the cohort. Sessions were supplemented by one-on-one technical support calls by ICLEI staff. The SDG Cohort demonstrated applicability across a range of community types and to develop materials to support replication, allowing any city or county to benefit from aligning with the framework—redefining traditional government definitions of sustainability in the process.