Promising Practices

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to end homelessness in the City of Portland and Multnomah County by 2015. As efforts to end homelessness continue, city and county officials will focus on nine actions. Programs throughout the county will address moving people into Housing First, ending the practice of discharging people into homelessness from jails and hospitals, improving outreach, emphasizing permanent solutions, increasing the housing supply, creating new partnerships, improving the rent assistance system, increasing economic opportunity for homeless people and implementing new data collection technology.

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Social Environment, Children, Families

Goal: The goal of this program is to prevent the unnecessary out-of-home placement of children through intensive, on-site intervention, and to teach families new problem-solving skills to prevent future crises.

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes, Families

Goal: Interfaith Housing Alliance strengthens families, builds communities and promotes human dignity and economic justice by providing decent, affordable housing for those with lower incomes. Through education, advocacy and the creation of new jobs, they foster economic growth and overcome the effects of shelter poverty.

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Employment, Children

Goal: The Jewish Vocational Service's (JVS) mission is to bring people and work together. The organization accomplishes this by linking employers and individuals together to achieve the employment goals of the Jewish community by providing the skills necessary for success in today's workplace. JVS links employers and individuals to work together to achieve their employment goals through high quality customer service, innovative program strategies, and the use of new technologies.

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

Goal: The goal of this dental office based intervention is to reduce smokeless tobacco use and other tobacco use.

Impact: The dental office-based intervention succeeded in increasing the rates of smokeless tobacco cessation among participants.

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Social Environment, Families

Goal: The program aims to provide information and resources to kinship caregivers (grandparents, relatives, foster parents, and others) in New York State.

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes, Women, Men, Older Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: To describe a new model of enriched supportive housing that not only improves the quality of life of seniors but also can provide a return on investment that reduces health care expenditures.

Impact: Housing chronically homeless adults reduces homelessness, improves health outcomes, and reduces health care costs. The greatest reduction in health care costs after placement in supportive housing is seen among chronically homeless adults and seniors.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Wellness & Lifestyle, Men, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: Reduce unprotected insertive and receptive anal intercourse among HIV-negative black men who have sex with men (MSM) as well as to reduce the number of sex partners, increase consistent condom use during anal intercourse and increase testing for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Children, Women, Families

Goal: To increase daily fruits and vegetables servings by half in women served by WIC participants with the long term goal of reducing risk of cancer.

Impact: The Maryland WIC 5-A-Day Program shows that while multi-faceted community based interventions can effectively promote and sustain dietary change among low-income populations in order to reduce the risk of cancer, many obstacles remain in implementing such programs.

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

Goal: The mission of this program is to improve the lives of individuals and families affected by alcohol and other drug use through treatment, education, and research.

Impact: Matrix participants were 38% more likely to stay in treatment and 27% more likely to complete treatment compared to nonparticipants. Stimulant drug-use indicators were significantly reduced during treatment for Matrix participants. They also produced more drug-free urine samples compared to nonparticipants.