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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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WIC Community Garden (Johnson County, KS)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Women, Families

Goal: The goal of the WIC Community Garden is to educate, empower and feed the families in the Kansas WIC program, creating a healthier community.

Impact: In a three-month period, 356.8 pounds of fresh vegetables were given to WIC families.

WISEWOMAN Michigan (Lansing, MI)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Cancer, Women

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce barriers to exercise and increase the likelihood that people will engage in physical activity.

Youth Speaks (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Education / Literacy, Teens

Goal: Youth Speaks aims to empower youth and effect change through written and oral literacy.

Youth Villages YVLifeSet

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Social Environment, Teens

Goal: Youth Villages helps children and families live successfully.

Baltimore Needle Exchange Program (Baltimore, MD)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Women, Men, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of the Baltimore Needle Exchange Program is to reduce HIV, hepatitis, and other infections by reducing the use of unclean needles and to help individuals overcome substance abuse by connecting them to harm reduction services and drug treatment programs. The experimental case manager intervention program at the Baltimore NEP looked to increase the percentage of intravenous drug users who enrolled in city sponsored substance abuse programs following referral at the Baltimore NEP sites.

Impact: The intervention program through Baltimore NEP was effective in increasing entry of intravenous drug users into drug drug treatment programs and highlights the need for more accessible treatment programs and harm-reduction services, such as mobile treatment facilities.

Dotwell for a Healthy Neighborhood (Dorchester, MA)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Social Environment, Urban

Goal: The mission of DotWell is to guarantee high-quality clinical and community services across both sites—addressing health disparities, meeting the complex needs of a changing Dorchester community, and building social capital in and across neighborhoods.

Healthy Families New York (New York)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Social Environment, Children, Families

Goal: The goals of HFNY are to promote positive parent-child interaction; to ensure optimal pre-natal care; to promote healthy childhood growth and development; and to enhance family functioning.

Impact: Mothers participating in the HFNY study were significantly less likely to deliver low-birth-weight babies than mothers in the control group (3.3% vs 8.3%). HFNY parents also reported having engaged in significantly fewer acts of serious abuse and neglect.

Neighborhood Market DrillDown + (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Economic Climate, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to promote investments in underserved urban neighborhoods.

Neighborhood Traffic Management Program (Sacramento, CA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Transportation, Urban

Goal: The goal of the Neighborhood Traffic Management Program (NTMP) is to increase safe traffic practices in Sacramento's neighborhoods by reducing the impacts from speeding vehicles and careless drivers on residential streets.

New Communities Program (Chicago, IL)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Social Environment, Children, Teens, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of the New Communities Program is to strengthen communities from within through planning, organizing, and human development.

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.
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