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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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Bridging the Gap (Seattle)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Transportation, Urban

Goal: The nine-year goals of Bridging the Gap are to:
* Reduce the infrastructure maintenance backlog.
* Pave and repair Seattle streets.
* Make seismic upgrades to the most vulnerable bridges.
* Improve pedestrian and bicycle safety and create safe routes to schools.
* Increase transit speed and reliability.

Bridging the Gap: Youth Violence Reduction (Richmond)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Prevention & Safety, Children, Teens, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: To develop a useful, sustainable and replicable model designed to reduce the risk of re-injury and mortality in Richmond area youths who have been previously hospitalized with violence related injuries including gunshot wounds, stab wounds, and assault injuries.

Building Effective Programs for Summer Learning (USA)

Filed under Good Idea, Art & Recreation, Children, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of the paper is to introduce effective practices for building a summer learning program that reaches the neediest kids, gets kids learning, and keeps going strong.

Building Tulsa, Building Lives (Tulsa, Oklahoma)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes, Adults, Urban

Goal: Building Tulsa, Building Lives aims to end chronic homelessness in the city of Tulsa within five years (2007-2012) by creating sustainable, supportive housing through a public-private partnership of government agencies, philanthropic organizations, faith-based organizations and local communities.

Bullying Prevention Program (South Carolina)

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

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce bullying in schools.

California Green Jobs Corps (Sacramento)

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Employment, Teens

Goal: The goal of the California Green Corps is to place 1,000 at-risk young adults between the ages of 16 and 24 into "green" jobs in order to stimulate the economy and provide opportunities for disadvantaged youth while improving and protecting the environment.

California Smoker’s Hotline (California)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Adults, Families

Goal: The Hotline’s goal is to help individuals and families quite smoking.

California Votes Initiative (California)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Civic Engagement, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The Initiative's goal was to increase voter participation rates among infrequent voters, particularly in low-income and ethnic communities.

CAMINOS (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Education / Educational Attainment, Women, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of CAMINOS is to help low-income, Latina immigrants create opportunities for self and economic improvement by teaching them how to use technology.

Campaign for Working Families (Philadelphia, PA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Investment & Personal Finance

Goal: The goal of this campaign is to help families close the gap between their income and their expenses, and develop financial assets by connecting them to advice about non-predatory, quality financial services, savings options, wealth building resources, credit building, and public benefits.

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.