Promising Practices
The Promising Practices database informs professionals and community members about documented approaches to improving community health and quality of life.
The ultimate goal is to support the systematic adoption, implementation, and evaluation of successful programs, practices, and policy changes. The database provides carefully reviewed, documented, and ranked practices that range from good ideas to evidence-based practices.
Learn more about the ranking methodology.
Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants
Goal: The Rhode Island process builds on a recent agreement among all the New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers to reduce greenhouse gases in the region to 1990 levels by 2010, 10% below those levels in 2020, and by as much as 75% over the longer-term.
Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability, Adults, Rural
Goal: The goal of the Rural Energy for America Program is to increase clean energy production, efficiency savings, economic activity, and new jobs in rural areas.
Filed under Good Idea, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Teens, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban
Goal: Safe Streets/Strong Communities is a community-based organization that campaigns for a new criminal justice system in New Orleans, one that creates safe streets and strong communities for everyone, regardless of race or economic status.
Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants, Children, Teens, Adults, Older Adults, Urban
Goal: SMURRF aims to mitigate the pollution affecting Santa Monica Bay from urban runoff and raise public awareness of Santa Monica Bay pollution. We have reviewed the SMURRF system and began an investigation of installing a RO system to produce potable water in the coming years. This goal is to contribute to the city’s new sustainable master water plan to become self-reliant on local water by 2020
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Teens, Urban
Goal: The primary goal of the School Lunch Initiative is to transform the way Berkeley public school students eat lunch and to educate children about food, health, and the environment.
Impact: Three years after its conception, the program successfully eliminated nearly all processed foods from the school district dining halls and introduced fresh and organic foods to the daily menu. There was evidence that greater exposure to the School Lunch Initiative was significantly associated with higher nutrition knowledge scores among fourth graders and seventh graders. Furthermore, elementary school students from the schools with highly developed School Lunch Initiative components clearly expressed a higher preference for fruits and vegetables.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children
Goal: The goal of this intervention was to reduce dental caries among children by promoting twice daily tooth brushing.
Impact: Supervised tooth brushing and positive reinforcement in a school setting decreased the rate of dental caries in participating children.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders
Goal: The goal of this program is to help clients move beyond trauma and substance abuse.
Impact: Multiple evaluations of the Seeking Safety program in various settings have shown positive outcomes for substance abuse/addiction, substance abuse disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants
Goal: Septic systems serve approximately 25 percent of the U.S. population and about 40 percent of new developments. The U.S. Census Bureau has indicated that at least 10 percent of septic systems have stopped working. Some communities report failure rates as high as 70 percent! The goal of this program is to improve the performance of decentralized septic systems.
SF Health Code Article 38: Enhanced Ventilation for Urban Sensitive Use Development (San Francisco, CA)
Filed under Good Idea, Community / Governance, Children, Teens, Adults, Older Adults, Families, Urban
Goal: The purpose of SF Health Code Article 38 is to protect residents from the effects of living in a poor air quality zone by requiring enhanced ventilation in new and renovated residential buildings.
Impact: The City of San Francisco implemented a law requiring enhanced ventilation in new and renovated residential buildings to protect residents from harmful particulate matter.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Teens, Urban
Goal: The goal of Students for Nutrition and Exercise is to encourage healthy eating and daily physical activity in middle school students.
Impact: The SNaX program shows that programs which train peer advocates to encourage healthy eating and daily physical activity in students can serve to benefit those trained as peer advocates after the intervention.