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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.

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Female Condom Skills Training (FEMIT) (San Francisco)

Local

Filed under Local, Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Teens, Adults, Women

Goal: The goals of the program are to Increase use of female condoms and increase the frequency of protected sex.

Impact: FEMIT is successful in increasing female condom use and also in increasing protected sex among women. The FEMIT intervention has the potential to to be an effective supplement to other safe sex education programs currently available at family planning clinics.

Childhood Matters/Nuestro Niños (Northern California)

Local

Filed under Local, Good Idea, Health / Children's Health, Families

Goal: The programs’ mission is to inform and inspire parents and all who care about children so that every child may be happy, healthy, and thrive.

Living Wage Laws

Local

Filed under Local, Good Idea, Economy, Adults

Goal: Expected Beneficial Outcomes: Increased earnings; Reduced poverty.

Paid Sick Leave Laws

Local

Filed under Local, Good Idea, Economy, Adults

Goal: Expected Beneficial Outcomes: Increased access to paid leave; Increased access to health care. Other Potential Beneficial Outcomes: Improved health outcomes; Increased use of parental leave.

The Homeless Garden Project (Santa Cruz County, CA)

Local

Filed under Local, Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes

Goal: The goals of the Homeless Garden Project (HGP) are to offer a supportive, meaningful work environment that encourages self-esteem, responsibility, and self-sufficiency; to integrate homeless people and the community in the security and beauty of a productive garden; and to put into practice the principles of economic and ecological sustainability.

Bridges . . . from school to work (Washington, D.C.)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Employment, Children

Goal: The Foundation's mission is to foster the employment of young people with disabilities.

Spark (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children, Teens, Urban

Goal: Spark's mission is to provide life-changing apprenticeships to youth in underserved communities across the United States.

826 National (Chapters in CA, NY, IL, WA, MI, MA, DC)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Literacy, Children, Teens, Urban

Goal: The mission of 826 National is to help children ages 6-18 develop their writing skills, and to help teachers get their students excited about writing. The mission is based on the understanding that great leaps in learning can happen with one-on-one attention, and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success.

Santa Barbara Car Free Project (Santa Barbara)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Transportation, Children, Teens, Adults, Families, Urban

Goal: The project's mission is to encourage car free, carefree travel to and around Santa Barbara for cleaner air and a healthier planet.

Together Learning Choices (TLC) (Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Miami)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Adults, Urban

Goal: The goal of Together Learning Choices was to help HIV-infected youth increase their use of health care, decrease drug and alcohol use and risky sexual behaviors, and improve their quality of life.

Impact: Together Learning Choices (TLC) showed that prevention programs can effectively reduce risk acts among HIV-infected youths.

An Effective Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success and/or promise in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures of improvement in outcome of interest (i.e. increase in voter registration, not just delivery of voter registration drive) and/ or the outcome measure is increased or improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant.

A Good Idea meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program funding source, program implementation steps and outcomes.
  2. The program evaluation is limited to descriptive measure(s) of success/accomplishment (i.e., program participation rates, number of services/education sessions/radio messages provided). Note: oftentimes, the program has been newly implemented and a program evaluation has not yet been conducted. Programs that have not yet been evaluated, but which show promise in improving health or quality of life, are classified as Good Ideas until an evaluation is conducted.

An Evidence-Based Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures showing improvement in the outcome(s) of interest after the implementation of the program (i.e. increase in smoking cessation, not just the delivery of a smoking cessation program). The outcome measure(s) is/are compared at relevant time periods before and after the intervention or program implementation. Alternatively, the evaluation study compares the outcome(s) between an intervention group and an appropriate control group.
  3. The study is of peer-review quality and presents numbers in a scientific manner; measurements of precision and reliability are included (e.g. confidence intervals, standard errors), results from statistical tests show a significant difference or change in the outcome measure(s), and relevant point estimates and p-values are presented. Note: if the results from an evaluation of a program are presented in a scientific manner and the outcome measure is improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant, the practice is classified as effective and not evidence-based.
Santa Cruz