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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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Setting up a Building Components Exchange in Basel (Switzerland)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants, Urban

Goal: The program aims to both reduce waste disposal of usable building materials and create long-term jobs by dismantling, transporting, cleaning, presenting and selling the components.

Seven Principles Project - San Francisco (San Francisco)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Teens, Adults, Women, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goals of the SevenPrinciples Project, funded by the CDC's REACH 2010 Initiative, are to: eliminate disparities in infant mortality rates; improve African American infant survival; and improve the health of families and communities with infants through developing community capacity.

Signs to Promote Stair Use (El Paso, TX )

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Wellness & Lifestyle, Adults, Women, Men, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: To increase physical activity among Hispanic populations by promoting the use of stairways.

SMART Leaders (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Children, Teens, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to help youths identify and resist peer and other social pressures to smoke, drink, and engage in sexual activity.

Steps to a Healthier Salinas (Salinas)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Diabetes, Children, Adults, Older Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The Steps to a Healthier Salinas program aims to improve the health and quality of life for individuals at risk or diagnosed with diabetes, asthma, and obesity and other chronic diseases by addressing three primary risk factors - physical inactivity, poor nutrition, and tobacco use.

Teen Pregnancy Project/ Sexual Violence Action Team (Ramsey County, MN)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Family Planning

Goal: The TPP/SVAT was formed to:

- Decrease isolation of persons working on teen pregnancy and sexual violence issues in Ramsey County communities.
- Increase their access to best practice information and culture-specific resources.
- Increase public understanding of teen pregnancy and sexual violence issues and effective prevention.
- Improve public policy related to teen pregnancy and sexual violence issues.

The program's objectives include:

- Developing and continuing to expand a community coalition for members' capacity building and leadership development.
- Increasing use of culture-specific practices.
- Increasing community awareness and understanding of teen pregnancy and sexual violence issues.
- Promoting teen health services.
- Encouraging schools to implement effective comprehensive sexuality education.

Teen Videofest (Tarrant County, TX)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens

Goal: The goal of this project is to give teenagers a meaningful and valuable way to help other teens improve their health and well-being through the positive messages they incorporate in their videos.

The Campaign for a Sustainable Milwaukee (Milwaukee, WI)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Employment, Urban

Goal: Sustainable Milwaukee's four task forces address major priorities: jobs and training, credit, transportation and the environment, and education.

The Care Team Network (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Older Adults

Goal: The goal of this program is to use a team model to offer practical, emotional, and spiritual support to individuals and families with health care concerns or other special needs.

The Continuum of Program-Enriched Services (Denver, CO)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes

Goal: The goal of this program is to promote economic survival and stability for vulnerable populations.

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.