Home > Promising Practices

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.

Submit a Promising Practice

Search Filters Clear all
(862 results)

Save a link to this search

Ranking
Featured
Primary Target Audience
Topics and Subtopics
Geographic Type
Search

The CARES Program (Buffalo, NY)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Children, Adults, Older Adults

Goal: The goal of the CARES program is to decrease barriers and improve access to dental care.

The Community Immersion Program (Austin, Texas)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Public Safety, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The mission of the program is to develop cultural understanding and to forge relationships between police officers and citizens of Austin in order to provide better community service.

The Eyes Have It (New Orleans and Baton Rouge)

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

Goal: The goal of The Eyes Have It is to provide free vision screening, examinations and free or discounted eyeglasses to children in Baton Rouge and New Orleans schools.

The Fenway Alliance: Walkability in a Commerical District (Fenway District, Boston, MA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Adults, Families, Urban

Goal: To achieve an improved physical environment, sense of community, and quality of life for members, residents and patrons of the Fenway Cultural District in Boston, Massachusetts.

The Green Cart Initiative (New York City, NY)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens, Adults, Older Adults, Urban

Goal: The goal of the Green Cart Initiative is to improve healthy food options for residents of New York.

The Greene Community Health Foundation (Greene County, OH)

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

Goal: The mission of the Greene Community Health Foundation is to 1. help assist underserved GCCHD clients with funding for medical needs, 2. find avenues of funding for clients, 3. develop partnerships with providers for reduced charges for clients, 4. develop community partnerships to strengthen programs and projects at GCCHD, and 5. develop state and national partnerships to strengthen the programs and projects at GCCHD.

The Healthy Lifestyles Initiative (Greater Kansas City, MO)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Wellness & Lifestyle, Children, Families

Goal: The Healthy Lifestyles Initiative works to integrate efforts to increase the proportion of Kansas City children and their families practicing healthy behaviors at a healthy weight.

Impact: Collaboration among multiple agencies across public and private sectors resulted in reaching almost 1 million people in the Kansas City area. Healthy weight assessments and plans received at primary care clinics are helping to promote healthy eating and living among children and their families.

The Heart Truth (USA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke, Women

Goal: The Heart Truth aims to inform women about heart disease, particularly women aged 40 to 60 and women of color, who are at higher risk of heart disease.

The Incredible Years: Palm Beach County (Palm Beach County, FL)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children, Families

Goal: The program aims to promote social, emotional, and academic competence and to prevent children from developing conduct problems.

Impact: The Incredible Years series has been shown to increase positive parenting practices and family communication while reducing children's conduct problems.

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (Austin, TX)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment

Goal: The mission of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is to increase the sustainable use and conservation of native wildflowers, plants, and landscapes.

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.
Santa Cruz