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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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MatchBridge (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Employment, Teens, Adults, Urban

Goal: The goal of MatchBridge is to diversify the future's workforce and reduce poverty by helping youth develop the skills that they need to secure employment.

Mayor's Healthy Hometown Movement (Louisville, KY)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Wellness & Lifestyle

Goal: MHHM was rolled out with the following overall goal: to create a community wide culture that encourages and supports healthy lifestyles by promoting increased physical activity (10,000 steps/day goal), optimal nutrition, healthy public policy and access to resources and facilities that bolster the stated goal. Specific goals include:

- Increasing the number of people in Louisville Metro who engage in 30 minutes of moderate physical activity at least 5 days a week by 15%.
- Decreasing the percentage of overweight or obese people in Louisville Metro by 10%.
- Increasing from 22% to 38% the number of people in Louisville Metro who eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables per day.

Past and future Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) surveys will be used to measure baseline and follow-up indicators.

Memphis Central Station (Memphis, TN)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Transportation, Urban

Goal: The goal of this project was to support community revitalization, retain the integrity of an historic district, and provide transportation links to private land development projects.

Menominee Nation’s Culturally Informed Settings Across Systems

Filed under Good Idea, Health

Impact: Among other improvements, the 4-year graduation rate for Menominee Indian High School increased from less than 60% in 2008 to 92% for the 2015-16 school year.

Methodist Germantown Diabetes-Self Management Education & Support (DSMES) Service (Shelby County, TN)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Diabetes, Children, Teens, Adults, Women, Men, Older Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The organization goal for the DSMES Service is to help each person living with diabetes attain knowledge and/or skills that may enable and empower them to perform effective self-care, promote wellness and prevent sickness and complications

Metropolitan Region I Cardiovascular Disease Risk Screening and Education (Region I, LA)

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

Goal: The objectives of the Cardiovascular Disease Risk Screening and Education program are as follows:

-To identify and provide early intervention for those with or at risk for untreated or uncontrolled hypertension
-To screen and identify those at risk for cardiovascular and renal disease
-To educate those found at risk for CVD
-To provide early chronic disease intervention
-To facilitate access for long term chronic disease care with partner sites

MHD-MWW Water Quality Technical Workgroup (Milwaukee, WI)

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

Goal: The overriding goal of the workgroup is to develop, institute and evaluate preventive measures (e.g. procedures, protocols and policies) that would mitigate the impact of any future waterborne disease incidents. Post 9/11, the workgroup has evolved to include discussions on water security in the context of an intentional contamination event.

Michigan Family Independence Agency (Kent County, MI)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Employment

Goal: The goal of this program is to move employable TANF recipients into the workforce and to provide job retention support.

Milwaukee Extreme Heat Plan (Milwaukee, WI)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Mortality Data, Children, Older Adults, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce heat-related morbidity and mortality in Milwaukee.

Milwaukee Tobacco-Free Sports Program (Milwaukee, WI)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Children

Goal: Program objectives are to:

- Plan and conduct five sets of interactive tobacco prevention mini-sessions for youth and parents in multiple school-linked settings;
- Plan and implement one annual media advocacy event coordinated with the national Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids
- Plan and conduct tobacco educational outreach and implementation guidance for coaches and athletic staff. Teen Presenters deliver tobacco prevention mini-sessions to younger children, grades 1-6.

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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