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.
Filed under Good Idea, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children, Teens, Adults
Goal: The Strive Partnership is focused on the success of children: every child, every step, from cradle to career.
Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Economic Climate
Goal: The mission of the RPA is to improve the quality of life and the economic competitiveness of the 31-county New York-New Jersey-Connecticut region through research, planning, and advocacy.
Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Housing & Homes, Adults, Women, Men
Goal: The respite program's goal is to stop the revolving door of emergency department treatment by providing a supervised facility with a level of care from an on-site nurse similar to what a patient might receive from an attentive family member.
Impact: The program has been able to provide better care for a vulnerable population and reduce overall cost of care by lowering the number of ambulance calls, emergency department visits, and inpatient stays.
Filed under Good Idea, Community / Transportation, Adults, Older Adults
Goal: Shepherd's Center Central is a local leader in the regional effort to ensure that all people can age successfully with dignity, security, and respect.
Impact: The Wheels that Care program helped 77 older adults attend their necessary appointments and maintain their independence through 1,550 hours of travel time to and from participants' homes and their appointments.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Teens, Adults, Women, Men, Older Adults, Families
Goal: Cradle Kansas City only has one goal, to close the health equity gap. By doing this, they will impact premature birth and infant and maternal mortality. They accomplish this through partnerships medical systems, resident-built strategies, and clear messaging that is aimed at systemic change.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Wellness & Lifestyle, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban
Goal: Global Gardens aims to increase household access to affordable fresh vegetables among newly resettled refugee individuals living in the Historic Northeast of Kansas City, Missouri. Program participants are provided use of land, water, seeds, and plant starts at community gardening sites in the Lykins and Indian Mound neighborhoods, maintained by Global Gardens staff.
During the course of the program, growers receive ongoing education and support from staff and interpreters, reducing language and cultural barriers that have historically limited refugee access to community gardening engagement. The Global Gardens curriculum focuses on increasing refugee growers’ skills in community and household gardening, utilizing a garden-based learning theory of education, and implementing participatory, learner-centered assessment techniques. The curriculum empowers growers to take the lead in their learning experience and increase connection to and responsibility for their physical environment.
Additionally, Global Gardens aims to increase participant knowledge of how to access local community gardening resources in Kansas City. Each growing season, participants are connected to Kansas City Community Gardens (KCCG), a non-profit that seeks to assist low-income households to produce vegetables from garden plots in backyards and community sites. Global Gardens participants receive membership information and introduction to the seed and plant ordering process, and practice using this resource during the course of the program, building individual self-sufficiency in navigating the process, and increasing likelihood of utilizing KCCG in future.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children
Goal: The goal of KC CAMP is to improve asthma care through provider and patient education.
Goal: The mission of BARHII is to transform public health practice for the purpose of eliminating health inequities using a broad spectrum of approaches that improve community health. Consistent with that mission, BARHII has set the following objectives:
- Train staff on broad spectrum of strategies to improve nutrition and physical activity, and reduce health inequities.
- Develop regional collaborations of public health departments, organizations, coalitions and communities to participate in a comprehensive approach to improve nutrition and physical activity.
- Develop a media advocacy campaign to raise awareness among policy makers and the general public about key issues of nutrition and physical activity, and their link to chronic disease and health inequities.
- Use the regional platform to achieve changes in institutional practices and public policies, and increase support for public health.
Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants
Goal: Chattanooga's vision is to become a city where ecological initiatives generate a strong economic base, nurture social institutions and enhance the natural and made environment.
Increasing Age-Appropriate Immunization Rates for Children in Butler County and Surrounding Area (Butler County, KS)
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Children, Rural
Goal: The goal of this program was to increase immunization rates in the Butler County area.
Impact: Immunization rates increased from 53.2% to 72.4% and parents reported a better understanding of the importance of timely vaccinations.