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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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Safe Routes to School (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Transportation, Children, Families

Goal: The goal of the Safe Routes to School program is to empower communities to make walking and bicycling to school a safe and routine activity.

Safe Sidewalks and Safe Routes to School

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment

Goal: Safe Routes to School programs aim to make it safer for students to walk and bike to school and encourage more walking and biking where safety is not a barrier.

SAFE-T Program (Toronto, Ontario)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Teens

Goal: SAFE-T is committed to conducting research in the areas of child sexual abuse, sexualized behaviour in children and adolescents who have offended sexually. Our treatment is uniquely tailored to respond to the strengths and challenges of individuals and families with the overarching goal of healthy future relationships.

Safety Counts (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Adults, Women, Men

Goal: The goal of the Safety Counts is to reduce behaviors which place drug users at a high risk of HIV infection.

SALUD Campaign (Connecticut)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: To increase the awareness of healthy eating in Latino communities and deliver targeted nutrition information.

San Francisco SafeStart Initiative (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Children, Families, Urban

Goal: The goal of the SafeStart Initiative is to reduce the incidence and impact of violence on children ages 6 and under.

San Francisco Unified School District Healthy Food Policy (San Francisco)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens, Urban

Goal: SFUSD aimed to provide students with healthy and appealing food choices and to diminish the dependence of schools and school-related organizations on selling unhealthy foods.

San Francisco Working Families Credit (San Francisco)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Government Assistance, Families, Urban

Goal: The WFC has three primary objectives:
-increasing the federal EITC take-up rate;
-promoting asset-building; and
-retaining families in San Francisco.

SCARE Program

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / School Environment, Children, Teens

Goal: This program's primary goals are to teach young people about emotions, including anger and aggression, and to help them recognize alternatives to violent behavior and aggressive responses.

School Services Data Sharing Project (Washington, D.C.)

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

Goal: The goal of the data sharing project is to allow for continuity of care of admitted children from hospital to school and to decrease readmissions of the children to the hospital.

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.