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.
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.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Children, Teens
Goal: The aims of the BASICS program are 1) to reduce alcohol consumption and its adverse consequences, 2) to promote healthier choices among young adults, and 3) to provide important information and coping skills for risk reduction.
Impact: Students who received a brief individual preventive intervention had significantly greater reductions in negative consequences that persisted over a 4-year period than their control-group counterparts. For those individuals receiving the brief intervention, dependence symptoms were more likely to decrease and less likely to increase.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Public Safety, Adults, Older Adults
Goal: The goal of this program is to increase safety belt use among senior drivers.
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.
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.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Adults, Women, Families
Goal: To improve the health and well-being of Kansans by working collaboratively to promote, protect and support breastfeeding.
Impact: Investing in nursing employee support services has proven to produce a 3 to 1 ROI through greater employee retention, increased productivity, lower health care costs and decreased sick days.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Women, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban
Goal: The mission of the By My Side Birth Support Program is to provide birth support and encourage breastfeeding among low-income and immigrant mothers living in Brooklyn through the use of doula services.
Impact: By March 2012, the By My Side Birth Support Program successfully trained more than 30 women in the community. These doulas, along with those already working for By My Side, participated in more than 100 births.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children
Goal: The goal of California Farm to School is to teach students about the path that food takes from the farm to their forks while instilling healthy eating habits.
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.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Nutrition & Healthy Eating, Rural
Goal: CVAN is the Kansas conduit for tons of healthy produce from the Catholic Charities Mary Martha Organization--the steward of excess highly perishable high quality foods from a huge Walmart Distribution Center in Oklahoma. As food supplies allow, CVAN distributes to the 100 square mile school district and to share with a networked family of pantries and volunteer organizations in five Kansas counties and South Coffeyville, OK. As needed, CVAN has recruited distribution volunteers in covering communities within this economically depressed region. The network family was built upon the CVAN’s supply of fresh produce, but is now blessing this area with distribution of CARES foods during the COVID crisis. Its volunteers are food warriors--winning in the fight against rural hunger.