Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Public Safety

Goal: The goal of this program was to improve transportation safety in Massachusetts.

Impact: The Saving Lives Program successfully reduced drunk driving by 42% and speeding-related crashes by 25% through community-based, innovative, and cost-effective interventions.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Urban

Goal: The goal of the School Nutrition Policy Initiative is to prevent and reduce overweight and obesity among low-income children.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Social Environment, Children, Families, Urban

Goal: The goal of the program is to help families gain or increase parenting and family management skills that would facilitate successful child academic and social adjustment and, therefore, to promote social and academic competence and to lower risk for later antisocial behavior. In addition, the intervention concentrates on promoting initial academic success.

Impact: Children who received the intervention improved in overall reading ability at a more rapid rate than those who did not receive the intervention. In addition, SAFEChildren participants showed an improvement in concentration.

Filed under Good Idea, Education / School Environment, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of this program is to introduce teachers, students, and chaperones to rail and train safety, the environment, and train travel. This program targets all students from kindergarten through high school.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program was to lower the Body Mass Index (BMI) of obese children, and thus decrease the prevalence of obesity, through a multi-faceted lifestyle intervention program.

Impact: Group based interventions are beneficial in reducing BMI and creating healthy lifestyles in young, obese individuals.

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants

Goal: Septic systems serve approximately 25 percent of the U.S. population and about 40 percent of new developments. The U.S. Census Bureau has indicated that at least 10 percent of septic systems have stopped working. Some communities report failure rates as high as 70 percent! The goal of this program is to improve the performance of decentralized septic systems.

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Built Environment

Goal: Smart Growth has three straightforward goals:
- to save our most valuable remaining natural resources before they are forever lost,
- to support existing communities and neighborhoods by targeting state resources to support development in areas where the infrastructure is already in place or planned to support it, and
- to save taxpayers millions of dollars in the unnecessary cost of building the infrastructure required to support sprawl.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity

Goal: To promote optimal nutritional and physical health for Sonoma County residents, especially children, by increasing the capacity of residents to make informed and healthy food choices.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Oral Health, Children

Goal: S4L strives to create self-confidence and change the lives of underprivileged children by providing orthodontic services at no cost.

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / School Environment, Teens

Goal: The goal of this program is to teach young adolescents self-control, stress management, social problem solving, and communication skills, and to encourage them to use those skills for the prevention of substance use and high-risk sexual behavior.