Research Division
Reseach is the engine that drives everything we do. It guides us in deciding how to advocate for an issue or develop a new program. It's how we keep the public informed about the factors affecting their children's health and well-being. And, it's a key in bringing together individuals and communities to take action and improve the lives of children and youth in Philadelphia. 

With extensive statistical and mapping capabilities, our Research Department is able to provide analysis for data-driven decision making and effective policy reform at state, local and national levels.  We make our results widely accessible through such publications as our Report Card, Community Report Cards and Children's Budget.

Best Practice Division
Working closely with the city and community partners, we turn research into real programs that benefit children, families and communities throughout Philadelphia . We model our best practice initiatives on successful programs across the country and favor programs that produce measurable results. We chart their progress to augment our research and improve program outcomes through more precise evaluations.

Philadelphia Safe and Sound manages, monitors and provides technical assistance for most of the City’s afterschool and youth development programs and many youth violence prevention programs. It’s clear that our work is changing lives for the better: Children who participate in afterschool programs have higher school attendance, lower school drop-out rates, fewer teenage pregnancies and are less involved in juvenile crime than those who do not participate. Research shows juvenile arrests during afterschool hours (3 to 6 p.m.) have dropped by 19 percent since  2000, when our first Report Card prompted Philadelphia to expand its efforts and implement youth development and violence prevention programs such as the:

PSS Network of Afterschool and Youth Development Programs
-The Afterschool Initiative
-Beacon Programs
-21^st Century Community Learning Centers

Violence Prevention Programs
-Adolescent Youth Violence Partnership (AVRP)
-Community Curfew Centers
-Anti-Truancy Expansion

Early Childhood 
-Philadelphia ABC ( Alliance for Better Child Care)