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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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Flex Your Power Case Study: Patterson Irrigation District (Stanislaus County, CA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants, Rural

Goal: The goal of this project was to reduce electricity usage by 10-20 percent.

Growing Healthy Kids Project (Orange County, NC)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Families

Goal: The aim of the Growing Healthy Kids Project is to support nutrition, healthy eating, and family unity among local families by providing community gardening space.

Health in All Policies (California)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Governance, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The ultimate goal of this approach is to fundamentally change government so that agencies are aligned around a common vision for a healthy and equitable society, and so that health is considered in decision-making across sectors and policy areas.

Health in All Policies

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Governance

Goal: The goal of Health in All Policies is to ensure that health effects are routinely taken into consideration when developing policy.

Impact: Health in All Policies initiatives have helped create healthier communities through implementing policies with health consequences in mind. For many counties, this includes creating cross-agency teams and workgroups to address problems in their community.

Health Through Art (Berkeley )

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Wellness & Lifestyle, Children, Teens, Adults, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: To use the powerful methods of mass media to market positive attitudes and healthy lifestyle choices and to provide dynamic messages against substance abuse, racism, violence and mental health stigma.

Healthy Eating Lifestyle Program (HELP) (Los Angeles)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Families, Urban

Goal: The program's goal is to help overweight children aged 5-12 years and their families adopt healthier eating habits and increase physical activity.

Healthy Eating, Active Living (HEAL) (Sonoma, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Families

Goal: The goal of the HEAL initiative is empower communities to make changes in their physical and social environment to improve nutrition and physical activity.

Healthy Kids in Healthy Homes (Kern)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Children's Health, Children, Families, Urban

Goal: To provide children and parents with the education and resources they need to improve their health.

Healthy Parks and the Interface between State and Local Policy Change (California)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Governance, Urban

Goal: The goal of the Statewide Park Development and Community Revitalization Act is to ensure that funding for new parks and green spaces is prioritized for critically underserved and disadvantaged urban communities.

Healthy Silicon Valley (Santa Clara)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens, Adults, Women, Older Adults, Families

Goal: The overarching goal of the Healthy Silicon Valley collaborative is to increase nutrition and physical activity opportunities by positively changing the built environment.

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.
Healthy Marin