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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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The Neighborhood Work Project (New York, NY)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Employment

Goal: For over 25 years, CEO's consistent goal has been to provide immediate, comprehensive, and effective employment services for men and women returning from prison and others under community supervision in New York City.

The New Jersey State Cancer Registry (New Jersey)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Cancer, Women, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of this program is to encourage early detection of breast cancer among diverse populations in New Jersey. When breast cancer is diagnosed at a local stage, 97% of women still are alive 5 years later. The 5-year survival rate decreases to 21% when the disease is diagnosed after it has spread to other sites.

The North Carolina Healthy Weight Initiative (North Carolina)

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

Goal: Launched in the fall of 2002, the plan, Moving Our Children Toward a Healthy Weight: Finding the Will and the Way, calls for a multilevel approach to reducing the number of overweight and obese children. It focuses not only on behavioral and interpersonal change, but also on the organizational, community, and societal changes necessary to support healthy eating habits and increased physical activity for children, teens, and their families.

The PlasTax (Ireland)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants

Goal: The goal of the PlasTax is to reduce plastic bag consumption.

The REACH Promotora Community Coalition (Hidalgo and Cameron counties, TX)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Diabetes, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce the rate of diabetes along the border of Texas and Mexico.

The Strategies for Workforce Inclusion and Family Training (SWIFT) Project (Minneapolis, MN)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Employment

Goal: Since Project SWIFT was not a direct service program, the major goal was for youth to receive direct services from partner agencies. Toward this aim, the project educated parents and staff from partner agencies to better meet the needs of youth with disabilities.

The Veggie Project at the Monroe Carell, Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt (Davidson)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens, Adults, Women, Men, Older Adults, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: To make Nashville a healthier community by improving access to fresh fruits and vegetables in food desert neighborhoods while supporting local farmers and empowering and educating youth.

The Vehicle Injury Prevention Program (VIP) (Houston, TX)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Public Safety

Goal: The goal of this program is to increase the proper use of seat belts and car seats.

The Wray Health Initiative (Wary, Colorado)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Rural

Goal: To improve health in the rural community of Wray Colorado by increasing the level of physical activities, conducting health assessments, and encouraging individual physical activity.

Think Big Clubs - Teen Mentoring (Palm Beach and Martin, FL)

Filed under Good Idea, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of the program is to match high school students to elementary school students in a mentoring relationship.

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.