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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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Supermarket Recycling Program (Massachusetts)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability

Goal: The goal of the Supermarket Recycling Program is to encourage supermarkets to develop programs to recycle and reuse organic waste and other materials.

Supermarket Savvy: Learn to shop healthy at the supermarket

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity

Goal: To educate consumers how to shop for health and to make healthy grocery shopping easy and enjoyable. To enable health professionals to educate their patients on shopping for health.

SuperTracker (USA)

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

Goal: SuperTracker aims to empower Americans to make healthier choices in nutrition and physical activity, based on personal preferences, lifestyle, and health status.

Sustainable Slopes (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Built Environment

Goal: The mission of the members of Sustainable Slopes is to be leaders among outdoor recreation providers through managing their businesses in a way that demonstrates their commitment to environmental protection and stewardship while meeting the expectations of the public.

Syphilis Elimination Effort (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Teens, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce syphilis prevalence in the United States and eliminate the syphilis health disparity.

TD Green Streets

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment, Children, Adults

Goal: TD Green Streets strives to green cities and towns across Canada by supporting innovative practices in municipal forestry.

Impact: TD Green Streets supports innovative practices in community forestry and has awarded funding to more than 500 communities across Canada. In 2012, 25 projects were funded resulting in the planting of 16,344 trees & shrubs nationwide.

Teaching Students to Be Peacemakers

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Civic Engagement, Children, Teens

Goal: The intent of this program is to provide each student with at least 12 years of training in how to manage conflicts constructively and thereby significantly change the way they manage their conflicts for the rest of their lives.

Teddy Bear Clinic

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

Goal: The mission of the Teddy Bear Clinic is to decrease fear of medical professionals and the hospital environment, and to teach healthy habits at a young age.

Impact: The program has been highly regarded throughout the community, and we have had requests from parents outside the community to offer it to their schools as well. We are considering hosting two clinics for other schools to join.

TEEN LINE (California)

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

Goal: The organization’s goal is to provide a safe space where a teenager can talk to another teenager who will listen, understand and not judge them.

Teen Talk (California and Texas)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Family Planning, Teens

Goal: The goal of this program is to educate adolescents about teen pregnancy, abstinence, and contraceptive.

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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