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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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Santa Barbara Car Free Project (Santa Barbara)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Transportation, Children, Teens, Adults, Families, Urban

Goal: The project's mission is to encourage car free, carefree travel to and around Santa Barbara for cleaner air and a healthier planet.

Save Money and the Environment Too (San Francisco Bay Area, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants

Goal: Through regional media campaigns BayROC promotes personal action and behavior change to reduce waste.

School Violence Prevention Demonstration Program

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / School Environment, Children, Teens, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce violent tendencies among youth through civic education.

Senior FarmShare (Massachusetts)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults

Goal: The goal of the Senior FarmShare program is to provide local farms with income and low-income seniors with food assistance.

Senior Peer Counseling Program (Salem, OR)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults

Goal: The mentoring process is designed to help clients work through feelings and emotions, to recognize strengths and coping skills, and to redirect life toward greater meaning and purpose.

SEXINFO: A Sexual Health Text Messaging Service for San Francisco Youth (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The mission of SEXINFO is to provide sexual health information to those at high risk for acquiring STIs in San Francisco, CA.

Simply Delivered Meals for ME (Maine)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality

Goal: The goal of this specialized meal delivery program called Simply Delivered for ME (SDM) was to improve care and reduce 30-day hospital readmission rates for those eligible for the program.

SNAP 2 It! (St. Louis, Missouri)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Urban

Goal: The program aims to increase the consumption of local, healthy fruits and vegetables in SNAP participants.

SNAP Participation and Reduced Hospital Utilization

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality

Goal: This study sought to examine whether Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participation and benefit levels are associated with reduced subsequent hospital and emergency department utilization in low-income older adults

Southwest Indiana Project AWARE (Vanderburgh County and Warrick County, Indiana)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Teens, Urban

Goal: The Goals of Project Aware include:

1) Increase capacity of adults to respond to behavioral health issues of adolescents
2) Increase the mental health literacy of youth-interacting adults
3) Link adolescents with behavioral health issues to mental, emotional, and behavioral health assistance and services
4) Increase the number of collaborative partnerships with youth- serving community agencies/programs
5) Conduct outreach and engagement strategies with adolescents and their families/caregivers to increase awareness of and promote positive behavioral health

Impact: Collaboration and partnerships can help drive awareness of mental health issues and training adolescents in Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) can help spread awareness of mental health resources and referrals to professionals.

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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