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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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Oakland Victim–Offender Reconciliation Program (Oakland, CA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Children, Teens, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to foster dialog, negotiation, and problem solving between offenders and victims in Oakland.

Partners in School Innovation (San Francisco, CA)

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

Goal: Partners in School Innovation enables public schools in high-poverty Bay Area communities to achieve educational equity through school-based reform.

Positive Choice: Interactive Video Doctor

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

Goal: To eliminate or reduce sex risk behaviors and eliminate or reduce illicit drug use among HIV-positive clinic patients.

Project ORE (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Teens, Women, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of Project ORE is to use a friendship-based sexual education intervention to prevent HIV/STI transmission in high-risk urban African American adolescent girls.

Project SURVIVE (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Domestic Violence & Abuse, Teens, Adults, Urban

Goal: The goal of Project SURVIVE is to end all forms of power abuse in relationships, social groups, and public institutions.

Repeat Offender Prevention Program (Orange County, CA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of the program is to prevent young offenders from becoming chronic delinquents.

Routz (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Urban

Goal: To provide housing to homeless youth aged 18 to 24 and provide comprehensive behavioral health services.

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.

Summer Search (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Educational Attainment, Teens, Urban

Goal: The mission of Summer Search is to find resilient low-income high school students and inspire them to become responsible and altruistic leaders by providing year-round mentoring, life-changing summer experiences, college advising, and a lasting support network.

Sunday Streets (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Wellness & Lifestyle, Children, Teens, Adults, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of Sunday Streets is to provide safe, fun outdoor spaces in different neighborhoods across the city that encourage physical activity.

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.