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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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Adventures in Learning (Greater Kansas City area)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Older Adults, Adults, Older Adults, Urban

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: In 2016, Adventures in Learning experienced attendance of 80 members per week and offered a total of 520 classes during the four 10-week sessions available.

Aftercare Clinical Services (Kansas City, MO)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Children, Women, Urban

Goal: The mission of Sheffield Place is "to empower homeless mothers and their children to heal from their trauma and help them become self-sufficient." The goal of the Aftercare program is to provide continuing supportive services once the families have transitioned from the residential program to permanent housing in the community. In this way, the families receive the support they need to maintain or increase income, maintain or improve mental health functioning, and maintain permanent housing.

Impact: This program provides vital supportive services for formerly-homeless families in recovery. Sheffield Place grew from serving just 20 families in 2010 to serving 132 families in 2017 (102 in residential and 30 in aftercare).

Aim High (San Francisco, Oakland, Marin, San Mateo counties)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children, Teens, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The mission of Aim High is to inspire a life-long love of learning and instill a sense of community, opportunity, and respect so that students are prepared for success in school and life.

Aiming High (Sonoma, CA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children

Goal: The goal of Aiming High is to increase the percentage of English learners scoring at or above proficient on California Standardized tests in language arts and math by three percentage points annually.

Alive & Free Prescription

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Prevention & Safety, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of the Alive & Free Prescription is to keep youth unharmed by violence and free from incarceration, and to provide youth with the support and opportunities to build positive lives that contribute to society.

All Children Excel (ACE) (Ramsey County, MN)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children

Goal: The goal of this program is to prevent delinquency, substance abuse, and school dropout in high risk children.

Asian American Diabetes Initiative

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Diabetes, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: Joslin's Asian American Diabetes Initiative has a mission to enhance the quality of life and health outcomes for Asian Americans living with diabetes through research, education, outreach and culturally appropriate treatments.

Impact: Joslin's Asian Clinic provides comprehensive and culturally appropriate diabetes care for Asian Americans.

Assisted Care/Aftercare (San Francisco, CA )

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Urban

Goal: To provide HIV positive youth aged 18 to 24 with stable housing situations and access to adequate medical services.

Asthma Outreach Worker Program for Children With Asthma (Tacoma-Pierce County, Washington)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Respiratory Diseases, Children, Families

Goal: To increase utilization of asthma management plans and improve quality of life while reducing environmental triggers of asthma in the household and hospitalizations due to asthma among children.

Impact: Short-term community-based asthma outreach workers for children can be effective in enhancing self-management capabilities, improving the quality of life, increasing the use of asthma management plans, and helping families reduce asthma triggers at home.

Asthma Safe Kids (Philadelphia area, PA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce the triggers of asthma by educating and increasing awareness to at risk 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.