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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.

Practices that were submitted by local partners are listed first and will have a green box below them that indicates they are local. Users can also use the search features to find promising practices from across the country.

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SEXINFO: A Sexual Health Text Messaging Service for San Francisco Youth (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The mission of SEXINFO is to provide sexual health information to those at high risk for acquiring STIs in San Francisco, CA.

CDC Communities Putting Prevention to Work: San Antonio

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Adults

Goal: The mission of Communities Putting Prevention to Work: San Antonio is to promote environmental changes to prevent obesity and make San Antonio one of the healthiest and most active communities in the nation.

Impact: Communities Putting Prevention to Work: San Antonio aims to reduce obesity by building accessible walking trails, providing bike-share programs, organizing free fitness programs and highlighting healthy eating options for the residents of San Antonio.

Connecting Partners through the Community Information Exchange (San Diego, CA)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality

Goal: Improve care coordination for vulnerable patients through an online platform.

Impact: Among clients enrolled in the CIE, participants experienced a reduced number of emergency medical services trips and increased stable housing rates.

Healthy for Life in Sonoma County (Sonoma County)

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.

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.

Santa Monica Urban Runoff Recycling Facility (Los Angeles)

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

Sentenac Canyon and Cienega (San Diego County, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Wildlife, Rural

Goal: The goal of the acquisition of Sentenac Canyon and Cienega was to protect the land from development and preserve its wildlife habitats.

Assisted Care/Aftercare (San Francisco, CA )

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

Goal: To provide HIV positive youth aged 18 to 24 with stable housing situations and access to adequate medical services.

Castro Youth Housing Initiative (San Francisco, CA)

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

Goal: To meet the housing needs of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth ages 18-24.

Flex Your Power Case Study: Otay Water District (San Diego County, CA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability

Goal: The goal of these projects was to promote water and energy conservation.

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.
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