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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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Washington DC One-Stop (Washington, DC)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Employment

Goal: The goal of this program is to help move people from public assistance to employment.

Washington's WorkFirst Program (Washington)

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Government Assistance

Goal: The goal of this program is to help individuals move toward self-sufficiency.

Wayne County Intensive Probation Program (Wayne County, MI)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Teens, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to prevent further criminal activity and incarceration among juvenile delinquents.

Accelerated Benefits (AB) Demonstration (USA)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Disabilities, Adults

Goal: The program's goal was to eliminate the waiting period for access to health care benefits for newly entitled SSDI beneficiaries, and see if this investment has long-term benefits.

Impact: The AB Demonstration project successfully increased the use of health care services and reduced the reported unmet health care needs of participants in the program.

ACT!vate Omaha (Omaha, NE)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity

Goal: The mission of ACT!vate Omaha is to create awareness, advocacy and excitement about activity and the importance of designing our community for active lifestyles.

Al's Pals

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children

Goal: The goal of the Al's Pals program is to teach children how to practice positive ways to express feelings, relate to others, communicate, brainstorm ideas, solve problems, and differentiate between safe and unsafe substances and situations.

Impact: Studies have shown that the program resulted in higher degrees of positive change in the intervention groups, increases in prosocial behaviors and positive coping behaviors, and decreases in antisocial and negative coping behaviors.

Blue Zones Vitality City Project: Albert Lea, MN (Albert Lea, MN)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Wellness & Lifestyle

Goal: To increase quality of life and longevity among members of a community through community-wide interventions which address community, social network, habitat, and inner self.

CDC COMMUNITY GUIDE: Environmental and Policy Approaches to Increase Physical Activity: Community-Scale Urban Design Land Use Policies (USA)

CDC

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens, Adults, Women, Men, Older Adults, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Impact: Design and land use policies that encourage physical activity in urban areas can help increase overall physical activity in bikers and walkers.

CDC COMMUNITY GUIDE: Reducing Tobacco Use Initiation: Increasing the Unit Price of Tobacco Products (USA)

CDC

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens, Adults

Goal: The goals is to make the use of tobacco products less attractive to young people
who have limited incomes and a variety of ways to spend their money.

Impact: These interventions that increase the price of tobacco products
showed strong evidence of their effectiveness in:
• Reducing tobacco use among adolescents and adults
• Reducing population consumption of tobacco products
• Increasing tobacco use cessation

Champions for Change (California)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of the movement of Californians who are becoming Champions for Change are: 1. Eating Healthy; 2. Moving More; 3. Drinking more water and fewer sugary drinks; 4. Using CalFresh benefits to help buy healthier foods for your family; 5. Connecting with other Champions for Change.

Impact: A program using social media and integrated grassroots activities can potentially successfully influence healthy behavior and community-level changes when it comes to eating and drinking healthier and exercising more.

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.