The Institute is charged with delivering and brokering programs and services to Virginia's local governments in three main areas:

• education and leadership development for elected and appointed officials;
• technical data, information banks, and data bases on local government statistics, operations, and trends;
• information and applied research on various aspects of local government.

The Institute believes that our government organizations must operate within a learning environment that fosters full participation and a strong sense of community. Therefore, to achieve its purposes, the Institute pursues strategies that:

• offer a forum for local officials to discuss issues of mutual interest, best practices, and ways jointly to address problems;
• encourage short-term and long-term planning and vision-setting;
• develop approaches to managing organizational change; and
• use state-of-the-art information and communications technologies to promote citizen understanding of government.