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 Local, Good Idea, Health / Adolescent Health, Children, Teens, Urban
Goal: The goal of sleeve gastrectomy in adolescents with morbid obesity is to provide a safe, minimally invasive surgical solution to weight loss when modifications to exercise and diet fail.
Filed under Local, Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Adults, Families
Goal: Cooking Matters seeks to teach families to stretch their food budgets so their children are fed healthy and nutritious meals at home.
Impact: Graduates of Cooking Matters at the Store learn how to compare food labels, read ingredients lists, and identify healthy food choices that fit their budget.
Filed under Local, Good Idea, Health / Children's Health, Children, Teens, Families
Goal: The objective of the Special Edition Sickle Cell Newscast is to increase the public's awareness of Sickle Cell Disease and to train lifelong advocates for SCD among the teen population.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The goal of this program is to improve cardiovascular health among residents of the Atlanta Empowerment Zone (AEZ).
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Social Environment
Goal: The mission of the program is to work vigorously to free participants from the burden of welfare dependency, and achieve a better, happier lifestyle through self-sufficiency. It will serve the taxpayers of Riverside County by reducing welfare dependency, thus making tax dollars available for other expenditures and needs.
Impact: The program produced a large net savings to the government through increased tax revenues and reduced welfare and food stamps payments (as an estimate, $2.84 saved for every $1.00 invested over five years).
Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment, Urban
Goal: The Queens Botanical Garden, a living museum serving the most ethnically diverse county in the United States, is committed to presenting collections, education and research initiatives and programs that demonstrate environmental stewardship, promote sustainability and celebrate the rich cultural connections between people and plants.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Wellness & Lifestyle, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban
Goal: Global Gardens aims to increase household access to affordable fresh vegetables among newly resettled refugee individuals living in the Historic Northeast of Kansas City, Missouri. Program participants are provided use of land, water, seeds, and plant starts at community gardening sites in the Lykins and Indian Mound neighborhoods, maintained by Global Gardens staff.
During the course of the program, growers receive ongoing education and support from staff and interpreters, reducing language and cultural barriers that have historically limited refugee access to community gardening engagement. The Global Gardens curriculum focuses on increasing refugee growers’ skills in community and household gardening, utilizing a garden-based learning theory of education, and implementing participatory, learner-centered assessment techniques. The curriculum empowers growers to take the lead in their learning experience and increase connection to and responsibility for their physical environment.
Additionally, Global Gardens aims to increase participant knowledge of how to access local community gardening resources in Kansas City. Each growing season, participants are connected to Kansas City Community Gardens (KCCG), a non-profit that seeks to assist low-income households to produce vegetables from garden plots in backyards and community sites. Global Gardens participants receive membership information and introduction to the seed and plant ordering process, and practice using this resource during the course of the program, building individual self-sufficiency in navigating the process, and increasing likelihood of utilizing KCCG in future.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens, Adults, Women, Older Adults, Families
Goal: The goal of HFHG is to grow and donate organic fruits and vegetables to the needy in Sonoma county.
Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment, Urban
Goal: Goals of the Bay-Friendly Landscaping & Gardening Coalition include:
- Reduce waste & help meet recycling goals.
- Reduce water use on landscapes by 50% or more.
- Nurture healthy soils while reducing fertilizer use.
- Use integrated pest management to minimize chemical use.
- Prevent or reduce storm water pollution to our local creeks and bay.
- Lower maintenance associated with mowing and shearing.
- Reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- Create wildlife habitat.
Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes
Goal: The goals of the Homeless Garden Project (HGP) are to offer a supportive, meaningful work environment that encourages self-esteem, responsibility, and self-sufficiency; to integrate homeless people and the community in the security and beauty of a productive garden; and to put into practice the principles of economic and ecological sustainability.