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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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Even Start (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Literacy, Children, Adults, Families

Goal: The Even Start Literacy Program is an education program for economically challenged families that is designed to improve the academic achievement of young children and their parents, especially in the areas of reading and language.

Every Woman Southeast (AL, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Women, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: Every Woman Southeast's goal is to create a diverse partnership across eight Southern states to improve women's health and birth outcomes.

Family Effectiveness Training

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Social Environment, Children

Goal: The goal of FET is to strengthen families by increasing their ability to adapt to new situations, particularly developmental and cultural challenges the family will face.

Family Health Promotion (Tuscon, AZ)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Social Environment, Children, Families, Urban

Goal: The goal of the FHP program is to seek seeks to reduce risk factors and increase protective factors in the child and family domains.

Farm 2 School Lunch Program (Kansas and Missouri)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children

Goal: The goal of the Farm 2 School program is to improve the health and wellbeing of school-aged children and prevent childhood obesity by providing healthy, seasonal, and locally grown meals to children at school.

Father/Male Involvement Preschool Teacher Education Program (Urbana, IL)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Social Environment, Children, Families

Goal: The goal of this program was to increase father/male involvement in state-funded preschool programs for at-risk students.

Fathers and Sons (Flint, MI)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Social Environment, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The Fathers and Sons Project aims to strengthen the bonds between fathers and sons and promote positive health behaviors.

Feet First (Seattle, WA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity

Goal: The goals of this organization are to promote the rights and interests of pedestrians and to encourage walking.

Five Star Restoration Program (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants

Goal: The goal of the program is to foster local natural resource stewardship through education, outreach, training activities and on-the-ground restoration projects.

Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) (Fairfax, VA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens, Adults, Families

Goal: FAAN aims to increase public awareness, promote advocacy and education, and advance research for those affected by food allergies and anaphylaxis.

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.