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 Effective Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Children, Urban
Goal: The partnership uses a comprehensive strategy with four specific goals:
1. Carry out a multi-agency law enforcement (suppression) strategy to reduce gun-related and other violent crimes committed by youths 17 and older.
2. Operate an intensive intervention program to reduce the risk factors for the highest risk youths, their families, and the community.
3. Mobilize the community at the grassroots level to address the problems of hard-to-reach families and the highest risk youths.
4. Operate a long-range prevention program that identifies, links, and strengthens existing resources to serve youths who may be at risk.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Disabilities, Children, Teens
Goal: The mission of this program is to stabilize students, help them earn their high school diploma, and prepare them for a future as productive workers.
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Social Environment, Children, Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban
Goal: To provide academic, vocational, recreational and life skills for at risk youth ages 12-21 in the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood of San Francisco.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Cancer, Adults, Women, Men, Older Adults, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The mission of the Be a Blue Buddy campaign is to educate the community about colorectal cancer, to raise awareness about the importance of screening and early detection, to give hope to newly diagnosed patients, and to save lives.
Impact: Be a Blue Buddy has helped raise awareness and create a dialogue for colorectal cancer. Grace De La Rosa began Be a Blue Buddy in 2014 and has reached several thousand people in her community and nationwide.
Filed under Good Idea, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children, Teens, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The mission of Beats & Rhymes is to provide schools and community centers with the knowledge and resources they need to implement their own successful program, and subsequent music group.
Impact: Beats & Rhymes teaches youth music-making skills through implementation in various Minneapolis after-school programs.
Filed under Good Idea, Art & Recreation / Libraries & Museums, Families, Rural
Goal: The preservation and restoration of the Ben Schroeder Saddletree Factory aims to contribute to the overall economic and cultural development of the community.
Best Practices of Mayors and Their City Governments in Promoting Tolerance and Respect for Diversity (Santa Clarita, CA)
Filed under Good Idea, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Families
Goal: The goals of the program are to: 1) reduce crime and improve public safety; 2) improve police-citizen cooperation and communication; 3) improve law enforcement responsiveness to members of the community; and 4) increase quality of life and increase police and citizen's ability to creatively solve community problems.
Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability, Families
Goal: Currently, the average U.S. family spends nearly $1,300 a year on energy bills, with much of that energy being wasted due to air leaks, inefficient appliances, and a general lack of attention to this important issue. The Community Associations Institute (CAI) and the Department of Energy (DOE) are dedicated to educating the community association industry--and the significant portion of the U.S. population it represents--on the many ways to increase the energy efficiency of their homes, and thereby reduce both energy consumption and costs.
Filed under Good Idea, Art & Recreation / Sports Recreation & Parks, Children, Teens, Families, Urban
Goal: The goal of the program is to provide middle and high school students in the greater Philadelphia are with education and tools to become life-long cyclists.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health
Goal: The goal of Birth and Beyond California is to provide effective, evidence-based breastfeeding support to all mothers delivering babies in hospitals in California in order to increase the percentage of mothers who are able to breastfeed exclusively starting at birth.