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

WasteWise (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants

Goal: The goal of WasteWise is to encourage and assist companies and organizations in the United States to reduce waste.

Weed and Seed (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use

Goal: The goals of Weed and Seed are to control violent crime, drug trafficking, and drug-related crime and provide a safe environment where residents can live, work, and raise their families.

West Nile Virus - Metropolitan Atlanta Surveillance Task Force (Atlanta, GA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to create a regional approach to emerging infection based on public education, environmental monitoring, and disease surveillance.

Who Do You Tell? (Calgary, Canada)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Social Environment, Children

Goal: The goal of this program is to help students learn to identify and report sexual abuse.

Why Murder? (Baltimore, MD)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Teens, Adults, Families, Urban

Goal: Why Murder? works to reform and revitalize communities throughout Baltimore that are torn apart by homicides and the frequent administration of "street justice."

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.

Wise Guys (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Children, Teens

Goal: Wise Guys aims to promote prevention of adolescent pregnancy, reduce sexually transmitted infections and develop sexual responsibility in young men.

Withdrawal.org

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use

Goal: The purpose of Withdrawal.org is to help people who are suffering from addictions get past the hurdle of withdrawal and regain control of their lives.

WorkWell (Thurston County, WA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Adults

Goal: The goal of the WorkWell Intiative is to recognize and support local employers in Thurston County, WA who make a commitment to address workforce health issues.

Young at Heart Project (California)

Filed under Good Idea, Art & Recreation / Music, Older Adults

Goal: The Young at Heart Project aims to provide the therapeutic benefits of music and entertainment for senior citizens in convalescent and residential care facilities throughout Central and Northern California.

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