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.
Filed under Local, Good Idea, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Adults
Goal: To reduce the number of heroin overdose deaths in the community and to provide immediate peer support to those in crisis.
Impact: COAT peers counselors are able to provide immediate response and support to help individuals achieve long-term recovery.
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Transportation
Goal: The goal of Taking the HyRoad is to improve fuel economy and reduce the emissions from public transit buses through the use of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
Reducing Health Disparities: Diversity and Cultural and Linguistic Competence in Contra Costa (Contra Costa County, CA)
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Urban
Goal: The goal of this program is to eliminate health disparities among the diverse patient population in Contra Costa County by improving access to services for people who are not comfortable speaking English, and by increasing the cultural and linguistic competence of staff in order to have a workforce capable of working effectively with diverse patients, clients, customers and communities.
Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants, Urban
Goal: The goal of this program was to reduce energy usage by 10 to 20 percent.
Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment
Goal: Greenbelt Alliance's mission is to improve the lives in the San Francisco Bay Area by protecting the region's greenbelt and improving the livability of its cities and towns.
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.
Addressing the Social Determinants of Health through the Alameda County, California, Place Matters Policy Initiative (Alameda County, CA)
Filed under Good Idea, Health, Urban
Goal: The goal of the Place Matters initiative is to improve the health of participating communities by “addressing social conditions that lead to poor health” through “identifying the complex root causes of health disparities and defining strategies to address them.”
Impact: AC Place Matters has identified 10 best practices that could help other programs address social determinants of health: find and foster strong leadership, dedicate staff resources to the work, engage staff from across the local health department, contribute to building grassroots power, address root causes, partner with community organizations and leaders, partner with government institutions across sectors, work reactively and proactively, build capacity, and use tools that ensure a focus on health equity.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Women's Health, Women
Goal: The goal of this program is to provide timely, effective, clinically appropriate intervention for abnormal Pap tests at no or very-low cost in order to reduce cervical cancer mortality.
Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants, Urban
Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce food waste in order to achieve the ultimate Alameda County goal of a 75% landfill diversion rate by the year 2010.
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.