AASD's Mission
To strengthen, advance, and unite the nation’s special districts through capacity building in states and across the nation; and facilitating a robust network of trusted professional service and governance resources.
Our Values
Capacity Building through Collaboration
Special districts exist in all 50 states, but broad collaboration among the different types of districts lacks in many states, hindering broad capacity for advocacy, professional services, and public awareness.
To elevate special districts’ visibility, and to advance standing in the local government advocacy space – special districts must organize state-based or regional-level forums for advocacy and education.
The American Association of Special Districts empowers special districts and stakeholders to develop, establish, and sustain state-based special districts forums, alliances, and associations to harness the energy of special districts as a force of local governments across the states.
Problem Solving
Active collaboration among academic, research, state and federal governmental, and commerce partners is necessary to develop a full, recognized picture of the nation’s special districts is necessary.
The American Association of Special Districts demonstrates the value of collaboration and research through an open forum to address root causes of special districts’ misunderstanding.
Leadership & Integrity
The American Association of Special Districts encourages strong special district leadership rooted in open governance and transparency. The organization seeks to establish recognized benchmarks for good district governance and provide professional resources to aid special district officials to meet those governance benchmarks.
Likewise, AASD’s governing board and staff are held to the same standard, leading by example. This value is enshrined in the [proposed] Association bylaws.
Supporting Network
On the flipside, AASD provides a platform for individual special district leaders and stakehohlders to network with each other. The Association consists of 12 special districts “sections,” creating a dynamic community for all special districts.
Unity
Special districts are typically the most common form of government in their states, and they are a powerful force when they unite in advocacy on common policy issues and to provide common educational/governance resources.
The American Association of Special Districts strives for unity among districts to truly advance all districts – together.
Our History
The American Association of Special Districts was founded in August 2024 with the objective of facilitating a positive, welcoming, and collaborative environment for stakeholders to address root causes of significant, broad issues impacting the nation’s special districts – from federal recognition to a gap of professional services geared to the government sector.
As efforts gained momentum to federally define “special district” and begin to reduce barriers to recognition of special district, a group of dedicated leaders among the nation’s special district sector of local government realized a dire need to dive deeper into the underlying issues driving the overarching federal headaches for special purpose governments, which are generally rooted at the state and local levels.
The American Association of Special Districts was born to meet special districts where they are to coordinate capacity development, cultivate understanding, and foster professional services and governance resources – the key components needed to drive a strong ecosystem for America’s 35,000+ special districts.
AASD complements data-driven efforts with capacity building and association development efforts to complete the ecosystem of policy and advocacy support that special districts need to directly address the challenges they face.
Analyzing public data available for special districts at the local, state, and federal levels, AASD is able to establish trends, identify intergovernmental pinchpoints, and amplify the story of America’s special districts.