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 Good Idea, Art & Recreation / Art, Children, Teens, Adults, Older Adults, Urban
SpeakOut allows individuals to share their personal stories, through song, poetry, and music, and enjoy a sense of camaraderie and love with their listeners.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Children's Health, Children, Teens, Families
The objective of the Special Edition Sickle Cell Newscast is to increase the public's awareness of Sickle Cell Disease and to train lifelong advocates for SCD among the teen population.
Filed under Good Idea, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children, Families
The project's goal is to identify children with disabilities and other special needs at an early age and provide those identified with the appropriate support so they can be successful when entering kindergarten.
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / School Environment, Children, Teens
The mission of the Sponsor-A-Mind® program is to supply underprivileged school children and classrooms in less affluent neighborhoods with the basic materials needed to exist and thrive in education.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Children, Teens, Families, Urban
The free sports medicine physicals provided by Jackson Hospital & Clinic helps thousands of parents, 25 schools, and hundreds of coaches ensure that students are healthy enough to participate in athletic programs when school starts in the fall.
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Transportation, Children, Urban
The goal of the Springfield Safe Communities project was to reduce the number of alcohol-related traffic crash fatalities, and to increase seat belt use throughout the city and surrounding areas.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Oral Health, Children, Older Adults, Urban
The goal of St. Peter's Dental Program is to improve access to dental care and treatment for the poor, elderly, and under served populations living in and around Albany, New York.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Children, Teens
The goal of this program is for youths to postpone alcohol use until adulthood.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Families
The Starting Right Initiative works to prevent, treat and reverse childhood obesity and malnutrition in low-income communities.
The Starting Right Initiative aims to encourage healthy eating habits in children and their families and works to reduce childhood obesity and malnutrition at seven project locations nationwide.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children
Kansas’s Step It Up: Taking Steps to Healthy Success (Step It Up) Project aims to work towards making improvements to policies and practices in child care programs with regard to breastfeeding, child nutrition, physical activity, outdoor learning, and reductions in screen time. Step It Up is an extension of the National Early Care and Education Learning Collaboratives Project (ECELC) and uses a similar learning collaborative model.
Step It Up: Taking Steps to Healthy Success has made great improvements in promoting healthy eating and physical activity. The topics of Child Nutrition and Infant & Child Physical Activity had the highest number of increases in best practices. Breastfeeding & Infant Feeding had the highest percentage of best practices being met at pre-assessment (55%).