Home > Promising Practices

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.

Submit a Promising Practice

Search Filters Clear all
(2399 results)

Save a link to this search

Ranking
Featured
Primary Target Audience
Topics and Subtopics
Geographic Type
Search

The Green Suppliers Network (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Air

Goal: The goal of this program is to help suppliers continuously learn ways to save money, optimize resource use, and eliminate waste through on-site technical reviews.

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (Austin, TX)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment

Goal: The mission of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is to increase the sustainable use and conservation of native wildflowers, plants, and landscapes.

Too Good for Violence (Tampa, FL)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education / School Environment, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of the TGFV program is to help students learn the skills they need to get along peacefully with others and avoid violence.

Impact: Too Good programs empower children with the social-emotional learning and substance abuse prevention skills they need to lead happy and healthy lives.

Urban Improv (Boston, MA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Art & Recreation / Theater & Movies, Children, Urban

Goal: Urban Improv’s mission is to challenge young people to meet the major issues in their lives head-on. By participating in an innovative, interactive curriculum, students develop the necessary skills of problem solving, cooperation, and leadership.

Vestey Center (Superior, NE)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Community & Business Resources, Older Adults

Goal: The goal of the Vestey Center is to provide vital services and resources to the elderly of Superior, Nebraska and serve as a community center for the larger community.

West Virginia's Coordinated School Health Program (West Virginia)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve the health and fitness of students in West Virginia.

Zoning for a Healthy Baltimore

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Built Environment, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of Zoning for a Healthy Baltimore is to influence the final version of Baltimore’s new zoning code by informing stakeholders and decision-makers about the new zoning code’s potential to create healthy communities and decrease health disparities, with an emphasis on preventing obesity and crime.

Impact: Zoning for a Healthy Baltimore is an HIA of the Baltimore zoning code rewrite in order to maximize the potential to create healthier communities. Since publication, Baltimore has revised its zoning code to incorporate dispersal standards and other strategies related to placement of alcohol outlets.

Advancing Diabetes Self Management (Connecticut)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Diabetes, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of the Advancing Diabetes Self Management program at the Community Health Center was to improve the health outcomes of people with type 2 diabetes.

Impact: The diabetes self-management intervention showed patient improvements in glycemic control, blood pressure, and LDL cholesterol. The team was able to develop and adapt the program to meet the unique needs of the population to create an effective intervention.

Boys and Girls Club Project Learn

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve the educational performance of economically disadvantaged adolescents.

Impact: After 30 months, program youths reported significantly greater enjoyment and engagement in reading, verbal skills, writing, and tutoring. They also had better overall averages in reading, spelling, history, science, social studies, and school attendance compared with comparison and control youths.

Children's National Universal HIV Screening Program (Washington, D.C.)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Children's Health, Teens, Adults

Goal: The goal of this project is to achieve high rates of identification of new HIV infection and to decrease the spread of HIV among youth in metropolitan DC, which is severely affected by the epidemic.

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.