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, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Children, Teens, Adults, Women, Men, Older Adults, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: Healthy Howard opens doors for individuals, groups and communities to improve their health and wellness.
Impact: Healthy Howard provides resources to schools, restaurants, workplaces, and childcare centers to help them improve the health and choices of their students, employees, or clients.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Teens, Families, Urban
Goal: The mission of HKES&I is to increase access to needed healthcare for children. This is accomplished through the goal of identifying children who need further follow-up, particularly for hearing and vision problems, and to connect them to those services.
Impact: Healthy Kids Express Screening and Immunization program is successful in providing evidence based care to low-income populations and for connecting those identified with screening needs to needed follow-up care.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Women, Men, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: To eliminate or reduce sexual transmission risk behavior, to eliminate or reduce injection drug use risks and to improve health care practices and quality of life among people living with HIV.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban
Goal: The goal of Healthy U is to work with several community groups to provide healthy snacks as well as education on nutrition and fitness to students and their families at University Academy.
Impact: The percentage of screened students who were overweight fell from 45.9% in the 2011-2012 school year to 36.9% in the 2011-2012 school year. Over 75% of participants in both Teen Eats and Family Dinners demonstrated a positive behavior change.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke, Adults
Goal: The goal of the Heart to Heart program is to reduce risk factors of cardiovascular disease.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Alternative Medicine, Older Adults
Goal: HeartStrings aims to enhance the quality of life for individuals with special needs. Through regularly-recurring, interactive sessions, the MSO’s Rhapsodie Quartet addresses the physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of hundreds of individuals each year in a comfortable and familiar setting.
HeartStrings mission statement is as follows:
1) To enhance the quality of life of underserved populations through live, interactive, and exceptional quality musical experiences that are informed by the American Music Therapy Association’s Standards of Practice.
2) To bring meaningful arts experiences directly to participants in a comfortable and
familiar setting.
3) To provide a valuable resource for facilities that serve aging populations, adults with dementia, and individuals with disabilities, or long-term illnesses.
Impact: HeartStrings has reached over 3,200 individuals with disabilities, long-term illness, and assisted-living needs, as well as aging adults with dementia since its start in 2006.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Diabetes, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The goal of Project HEED is to lessen the incidence of diabetes in ethnic minority communities through peer-led educational interventions focusing on weight loss.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Children, Women, Families, Urban
Goal: The Homeless Prenatal Program works with families to break the cycle of homelessness and poverty by providing prenatal and parenting support, family finances and stability, and basic needs services.
Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes
Goal: Horizon House believes homeless guests possess strengths that are key to ending their homelessness, and states its mission is "to be a focal point for services and assistance to empower individuals and families to no longer be homeless."
Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Employment, Women, Men, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban
Goal: Hot Bread Kitchen's mission is to increase economic security for foreign-born, low-income women and men by helping them gain access to the thriving specialty food industry.
Impact: Hot Bread Kitchen trains low-income, immigrant men and women for successful professional baking careers.