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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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Filed under Local, Good Idea, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Adults, Families

Goal: The goal of TeenRehabCenter.org is to give parents the tools they need to be able to talk to their children and teens about drugs and alcohol. By providing these resources, it hopes to prevent more teens and young adults from substance abuse. It also aims to help those who are already struggling by furnishing recovery information that is tailored both for parents and for teens.

Impact: Time spent in treatment is forward progress, since the individual is removed from substance use and negative peer and environmental influences. At least half of teens who graduate from rehab will enjoy an extended period of sobriety. How they follow-up after rehab is over can play a massive role in how strong and stable these healthy habits become.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: Pasos Adelante is a lifestyle intervention that aims to prevent and control chronic disease such as heart disease and diabetes in Mexican Americans by providing a supporting environment for improving nutrition and increasing walking activity in U.S.-Mexico border communities.

Filed under 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.

Filed under 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.

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.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Cancer, Adults

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve colorectal cancer screening rates among older adults.

Impact: Participants in the intervention group had significantly higher colorectal cancer screening attendance, as well as having more positive attitudes about screening and placing a higher priority on screening.

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability, Urban

Goal: Besides attempting to prevent rolling blackouts, the City of San Jose wanted to participate in the water conservation program to reduce the amount of treated wastewater that is released into San Francisco Bay.
Specific goals included:
-Continue to support SCVWD's mission of water supply and management in spite of external power interruptions,
- Provide 24-hour battery backup for SCADA instrumentation and communications,
-Provide indefinite power backup via backup generators for critical source pumping, water treatment and emergency operations, and
- Reduce HVAC and lighting use to prudent levels.

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

Goal: Healthy for Life in Sonoma County is a pilot school-based intervention that seeks to reduce childhood obesity, increase student physical activity, and improve student access to nutrition and medical resources.

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 Effective Practice, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Women, Urban

Goal: The mission of MOMS Orange County is to help mothers and their families have healthy babies by providing health coordination, education, and access to community services. MOMS Orange County’s vision is that all babies born in Orange County are healthy at birth.

Impact: Measures such as the percent of babies born at a low birth weight, percent of babies born premature, and the percent of babies admitted to the NICU were all markedly better for program participants when compared to many comparison benchmarks.