Promising Practices

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Adults, Urban

Goal: The mission of Community United Against Violence is to prevent and respond to violence against and within LGBTQQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning) communities.

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Transportation

Goal: The goal of this program is to provide affordable, reliable, and flexible transportation to low-income residents of Burlington.

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment

Goal: Complete Streets aims to increase physical activity and contribute to creating safer communities for all users of the road.

Impact: Complete Streets has contributed to safer communities and streets for all users of the road by working with community residents, policy-makers, and the development community.

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children, Urban

Goal: The overall goal of Computers4Kids is to empower disadvantaged children in the community by giving them computer skills and instilling in them self-confidence and a lifelong love of learning. C4K also strives to provide a safe, comfortable place for middle and high school students to explore their creative abilities.

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Employment, Children

Goal: The goal of this program is to give students the academic, technical/technological and employability skills necessary to compete in higher education and high performance workplaces.

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Air, Teens

Goal: The goals of the Cool School Challenge are to:
* Educate young people, and by proxy their families, about climate change and everyday actions they can take to reduce their impact locally and globally;
* Reduce carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gas emissions in and around schools;
* Encourage student leadership and empowerment;
* Foster a community of teachers/students working together to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions; and
* Foster a new generation of environmental/air quality advocates.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of cooperative learning is to establish positive interdependence among students. When positive interdependence is established in group learning situations, the quality of peer interaction improves. Instead of competing with or ignoring one another, students are more likely to promote the success of one another through mutual assistance, emotional support, and the sharing of ideas or resources. These positive social interactions, in turn, encourage greater social acceptance and the development of positive relationships among students and, in educational contexts, promote greater academic motivation and achievement (Johnson & Johnson, 1989, 2005). In fact, research on social interaction suggests that gains in social skills alone are insufficient to reduce social problems among students and encourage more positive peer relations. Only positive interdependence, and the subsequent positive social interactions that arise from it, can motivate youth to re-evaluate previous conclusions regarding the social desirability of others (Bierman, 2004).

Impact: Cooperative learning can have positive effects on adolescent bullying, alcohol use, and tobacco use.

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Transportation, Children, Teens, Adults, Urban

Goal: The goal of Cycles of Change is to enable community members to use bicycles as a primary form of transportation through bicycle education and distribution programs.

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of the D.C. Schoolyard Greening program is to increase and improve schoolyard green spaces in order to promote ecological literacy and environmental stewardship among students, teachers, parents and the community.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Cancer, Adults

Goal: The goal of this program was to increase colorectal cancer screening using direct mailings of fecal occult blood test (FOBT) kits for noninvasive colon cancer screening.

Impact: Direct mailing of FOBT kits resulted in an increase in self-reported colon cancer screening adherence.