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 Effective Practice, Education / Literacy, Children, Teens
Goal: The mission of Family Place Libraries™ is to increase the capacity of libraries throughout the nation to recognize and realize their full potential as community hubs for healthy child and family development, parent and community involvement and lifelong learning beginning at birth.
Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability, Urban
Goal: The goal of these programs was to encourage energy conservation in the public and private sectors.
Filed under Good Idea, Community / Social Environment, Children, Families
Goal: The goals of HFNY are to promote positive parent-child interaction; to ensure optimal pre-natal care; to promote healthy childhood growth and development; and to enhance family functioning.
Impact: Mothers participating in the HFNY study were significantly less likely to deliver low-birth-weight babies than mothers in the control group (3.3% vs 8.3%). HFNY parents also reported having engaged in significantly fewer acts of serious abuse and neglect.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Children's Health, Children, Teens, Adults, Women, Men, Older Adults, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The mission of the Help Me Grow National Center is to enable and support the building of HMG systems across the country so that states can implement effective, universal, early surveillance and screening for all children and link those at risk for developmental and behavioral problems to appropriate programs and services.
HMG National supports affiliate states by:
Promoting development and expansion of a national network of states that are building HMG systems
Providing technical assistance to help states implement the core components and structural requirements of HMG
Informing the public discourse on the crucial importance of optimal child development
Ultimately, HMG National's goal is for all families to have knowledge of and easy access to statewide systems that support them in learning about their children's developmental needs and finding appropriate services.
Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment, Children
Goal: The goal of the In Our Own Back Yard program is to cultivate connection to, comfort in, and informed appreciation of the outdoors among participants.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Teens, Adults
Goal: The goal of inSPOT is to improve STD partner notification by providing online resources including electronic postcards.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Wellness & Lifestyle
Goal: The goal of this program is to create a connection to nature, gardening and hiking for the Kalihi valley's urban residents.
Filed under Good Idea, Education / Educational Attainment, Adults, Rural
Goal: The goal of this program is to expand educational opportunities in the community while addressing the issue of a continuing nursing shortage at Central Valley Medical Center.
Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes, Families, Urban
Goal: McAuley Village attempts to take poor single parents from a life of welfare dependence to one of independence. Although primarily a housing program, it also holistically addresses the many factors contributing to the vulnerability of these families, while attempting to tailor a solution to each family.
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Children, Teens
Goal: The goal of this program is to provide effective and affordable treatment for juvenile offenders.