The City of Santa Clara is a national leader in incorporating community ethics and values into local government. In 2000, Santa Clara adopted an updated Code of Ethics & Values that was designed to increase public trust and confidence in government by promoting and maintaining the highest standards of personal and professional conduct among the people who work in or represent the City. Santa Clara’s Ethics & Values program is a practical guide to help elected and appointed City officials, City staff and City volunteers to be “at their best” everyday, with a goal to foster public trust and confidence in the City’s government and services, and maintaining the highest standards of professional conduct. The City's use of values as guidelines for public service has received national attention and become a model for other communities wanting to infuse ethics into municipal government.

In one facet of the program, Santa Clara's efforts to encourage political candidates to use the City's Code of Ethics & Values as guidelines for their campaigns has received top honors in a State recognition program. A special effort was launched in 2000 to engage campaign supporters along with the candidates for elected municipal office in the Ethics & Values Program. Workshops on ethical campaign strategies and tactics are now held before and after each election, and candidates are asked to pledge they will conduct ethical campaigns and to encourage their supporters to do the same. A “Vote Ethics” program is designed to help voters make the candidate ethics and core values important criteria in selecting who will get their vote.