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
(862 results)

Save a link to this search

Ranking
Featured
Primary Target Audience
Topics and Subtopics
Geographic Type
Search

Community United Against Violence (CUAV) (San Francisco, CA)

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.

Community-based Exposure Study and Development of a Community-First Communication Model (San Francisco)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants, Rural

Goal: The goal of this study was to address the health effects of PFOA pollution, with a strong desire to implement a community-driven communication strategy to communicate the study results.

CommuteShare (Burlington, VT)

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.

Complex Care Program (Washington, D.C.)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Children's Health, Children, Families

Goal: CCP aims to provide ongoing comprehensive care coordination to children with medically complex, chronic conditions within Children's National health care system.

Comprehensive Approaches to Raising Education Standards (CARES) (California)

Filed under Good Idea, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Adults

Goal: The program's mission is to improve the quality of early learning programs by focusing on increasing the quality, effectiveness, and retention of early educators.

Consumer Connections and Career Connections Employment Resource Institute (New Jersey)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Employment

Goal: The purpose of the Career Connections Employment Resource Institute is to expand employment opportunities for persons with mental illness.

Cooking Matters at the Store (Washington D.C.)

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

Goal: Cooking Matters seeks to teach families to stretch their food budgets so their children are fed healthy and nutritious meals at home.

Impact: Graduates of Cooking Matters at the Store learn how to compare food labels, read ingredients lists, and identify healthy food choices that fit their budget.

Corrections Demonstration Project (California)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Prevention & Safety, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of the CDP was to improve health care access for incarcerated individuals and at-risk minority populations disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS.

Credit Builders Alliance (Washington, D.C.)

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Investment & Personal Finance, Adults, Urban

Goal: The mission of Credit Builders Alliance is to help low and moderate income individuals build their credit and access conventional financing.

Cross-Sector Collaboration for Vulnerable Populations Reduces Utilization and Strengthens Community Partnerships

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes, Adults, Women, Men, Older Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The objective of this article is to describe Project Restoration's approach to cross-sector collaboration with a shared population of high utilizing community members, describe the process and outcomes of the collaboration, provide strategies to mitigate challenges that arise during collaboration and offer insights to inform similar initiatives in communities nationwide.

Impact: Hospitals across the region are assessing ways to establish a centralized infrastructure to collaboratively address the complexities of individual cases, as well as a regional council to explore process improvements to enhance the lives of vulnerable populations.

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.