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 Effective Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The original goal of the Community Action Model has been to improve the health and environment of a community by reducing tobacco influences while building community capacity. It can be applied to a variety of health and welfare issues and has been used successfully in many communities with multiple topics of intervention.
Impact: The Community Action Model has resulted in new tobacco control policies within San Francisco, many of which serve as models for other communities.
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children, Teens, Adults
Goal: The goal of the program is to make a positive difference in the lives of children, primarily through professionally guided one-to-one relationships with caring adults, and to assist them in achieving their highest potential, as they grow to become confident, competent and caring individuals.
Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment
Goal: Complete Streets aims to increase physical activity and contribute to creating safer communities for all users of the road.
Impact: Complete Streets has contributed to safer communities and streets for all users of the road by working with community residents, policy-makers, and the development community.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children
Goal: The goal of this program is to improve the safety of child care centers in Idaho by making sure that recalled products are removed.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality
Goal: The goals of this promising practice were to identify the transportation-disadvantaged population that lacks nonemergency medical care because of low access to transportation; determine the medical conditions that this population experiences and describe other characteristics of these individuals, including geography; estimate the cost of providing the transportation necessary for this population to obtain medical transportation according to various transportation service needs and trip modes; estimate the healthcare costs and benefits that would result if these individuals obtained transportation to non-emergency medical care for key healthcare conditions prevalent for this population; and compare the relative costs (from transportation and routine healthcare) and benefits (such as improved quality of life and better managed care, leading to less emergency care) to determine the cost-effectiveness of providing transportation for selected conditions.
Impact: These results show that adding relatively small transportation costs do not make a disease-specific, otherwise cost-effective environment non-cost-effective. Providing increased access to non-emergency medical care does improve quality of life and saves money per patient.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Oral Health
Impact: The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends school-based programs to deliver dental sealants and prevent dental caries (tooth decay) among children.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Public Safety
Goal: The goal of the DISP program is to reduce drunk driving among alcohol traffic offenders.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Children, Families, Rural
Goal: The goal of this program was to increase full DTaP series vaccination in Wilson County, Kansas.
Impact: Immunization completion rates increased from 70% to 82% after implementation.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Wellness & Lifestyle, Children
Goal: The goals of this program are to increase developmentally appropriate physical activity, to increase the consumption of fruit and vegetables by children, and to increase the consumption of low-fat milk products and calcium-rich foods. The long-range goal is to incorporate this theme into the life of Lorain County children through collaboration with schools, agencies and facilities that provide services and activities for children and their families.
Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment, Children, Teens, Men, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: Making Connections for Mental Health and Wellbeing Among Men and Boys is a national initiative to transform community conditions that influence mental wellbeing. The Prevention Institute works with 13 communities across the U.S. to shift policies, practices, and norms to create greater opportunities for health and resilience, with particular focus on veterans and men and boys of color.