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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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Climate Action Toolkit

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability

Goal: As stated in the toolkit, the ultimate goal of Campus Climate Action is to achieve systemic/institutional commitment to a sustainable campus, including carbon neutrality, throughout all constituencies of the college or university (faculty, staff, students, and administration.)

Cool Schools Tree Planting and Education Program (Los Angeles)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability, Children, Teens, Urban

Goal: Cool Schools aims to reduce energy consumption, improve air quality, teach children about the environment, create greener spaces for children to learn and play, and provide career development assistance to young adults.

Cool Shops (British Columbia)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability

Goal: The goal of the Cool Shops program is to identify and implement in-store energy management measures that reduce energy consumption and utility costs.

Flex Your Power Case Study: Adobe (San Jose, CA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability, Urban

Goal: The goals of the KPIs are to ensure optimal efficiency as well as cost control and functionality.

Flex Your Power Case Study: Arden Realty and next>edge (Los Angeles, CA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability, Urban

Goal: The goal of next>edge is to maximize energy efficiency for commercial facilities.

Flex Your Power Case Study: City of Azusa (Azusa, CA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability

Goal: The goal of this program was to conserve energy in Azusa, California.

Flex Your Power Case Study: City of Poway (Poway, CA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability

Goal: The goal of the City of Poway's projects was to improve energy efficiency and to reduce energy costs.

Flex Your Power Case Study: City of Redondo Beach (Redondo Beach, CA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability

Goal: The goal of these projects is to improve energy efficiency in Redondo Beach.

Flex Your Power Case Study: City of Santa Clara (Santa Clara, CA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability, Urban

Goal: The goal of these programs was to reduce energy consumption in Santa Clara.

Flex Your Power Case Study: Cypress Semiconductor (San Jose, CA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve energy efficiency at Cypress Semiconductor.

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.