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 Effective Practice, Education / Literacy, Children, Urban
Goal: Reading Partners mission is to help children become lifelong readers by empowering communities to provide individualized instruction with measurable results.
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children
Goal: The goal of this program is to improve students' ability to read, understand, and analyze text.
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children, Teens
Goal: The goal of Ripple Effects is to use technology to prevent social injury and promote school and life success for children and teenagers.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults
Goal: Both local and state governments face huge challenges in providing senior populations access to public, agency, professional and family caregivers, and community services that allow seniors to remain independent. The complex maze of constantly changing program and service eligibility rules challenge even the most knowledgeable senior service providers. Fragmentation within senior service agencies further results in duplication of services, unnecessary waiting lists, and caregiver and volunteer burnout. This resource attempts to address those problems by providing quick and easy access to a variety of programs.
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.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Adults
Goal: The goal of Shape Up & Go! is to encourage physical activity and improvements in nutrition.
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 Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The goal of the Healthy Retail Project is to increase access to healthier foods and beverages; decrease the availability of unhealthy products; increase compliance with alcohol, tobacco, and food safety laws; and increase customer loyalty and store profits.
Impact: Over 60% of stores assessed in 2014 met Healthy Retail Project Standards and all participating stores increased their food environment score over baseline.
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children, Teens, Urban
Goal: The program is designed to teach students the skills and knowledge required to complete Algebra I by the end of the eighth grade.