In June of 1996, The Maxwell School at Syracuse University formally established the Community Benchmarks Program (CBP) through a grant $579,000 grant awarded by the Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. Foundation. The CBP is part of the Alan K. Campbell Public Affairs Institute. Former Maxwell Dean John Palmer institutionalized the program in 2000, enabling the CBP to continue as part of the ongoing undergraduate research and educational activities of the Public Affairs Program.

The mission of the CBP is to support local governments and nonprofits through the use of comparative measures to improve performance and accountability as part of a continuous improvement effort.

Overseeing the program is Dr. William D. Coplin, chair of the Public Affairs Program and Carol Dwyer, program director and instructor of an undergraduate practicum in benchmarking. The three-credit course is offered each semester to upper-level undergraduates. Participating students are trained in the use of benchmarking to improve local government performance while collecting and analyzing data.