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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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The Compost Club (Sonoma)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability

Goal: To promote social change and environmental responsibility, reduce carbon output and enable local schools and centers to develop and maintain effective composting and vermiculture systems.

The Cultural Exchange Program (Palm Beach County, FL)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Civic Engagement

Goal: The goal of this program is to foster cultural understanding among the communities of West Palm Beach.

The Developmentally Supportive Care: Newborn Individualized Developmental Care & Assessment Program (Boston, MA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Children, Families

Goal: The goal of NIDCAP is to maximize physical, mental, and emotional growth, health, and other positive outcomes for infants in NICUs.

The Diabetes Collaborative (Chicago)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Diabetes, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The Diabetes Collaborative is a comprehensive, sustainable and evidence-based model of care developed to combat the health problems associated with diabetes.

The Eyes Have It (New Orleans and Baton Rouge)

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

Goal: The goal of The Eyes Have It is to provide free vision screening, examinations and free or discounted eyeglasses to children in Baton Rouge and New Orleans schools.

The Food Trust (USA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens, Adults, Urban

Goal: The Food Trust's mission is to ensure that everyone have access to affordable, nutritious food by providing nutrition education and greater availability of affordable, healthy food.

The Guided Care Model

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Older Adults, Adults, Older Adults

Goal: The Guided Care Model aims to better health outcomes and reduce spending for aging adults with multiple chronic conditions.

Impact: The Guided Care Model has been shown to improve quality of care and reduce the use of home health care.

The Harlem Hospital Injury Prevention Program (IPP) (Harlem, NY)

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

Goal: The goal of this program is to prevent injuries and violence among children and adolescents in Harlem.

The Healthy Hawaii Initiative (Hawaii)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve health and increase physical activity in Hawaii.

The Homeless Garden Project (Santa Cruz County, CA)

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.

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.
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