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 Good Idea, Education / Educational Attainment, Children, Teens
Goal: The goal of Check & Connect is to encourage middle and high school students to stay on track towards graduation. Check & Connect seeks to foster student engagement at school and with learning. In Check & Connect, engagement is defined as commitment to and investment in learning, as well as identification with and belonging at school. Engagement is associated with desired academic, behavioral, cognitive, and affective outcomes, such as persisting in school and graduating.
Impact: Students who participate in Check & Connect are significantly more likely to stay in high school than similar peers who did not receive the intervention (24%). Students who participate in Check & Connect are significantly more likely to complete high school than peers who did not receive the intervention (20%).
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Public Safety, Urban
Goal: The goal of this strategy is to improve the effectiveness of policing in Chicago.
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children, Urban
Goal: The goal of this program is to provide comprehensive educational support and family support to economically disadvantaged children and their parents.
Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Employment, Families, Urban
Goal: The mission of Chicago Commons is to help individuals, families and communities to overcome poverty, discrimination and isolation.
Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes
Goal: CCLF's vision is to work creatively with their clients to help them rejuvenate neighborhoods and improve the lives of low-wealth individuals and families who live in those communities.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults, Urban
Goal: The overall program goal is the maintenance of a physically active lifestyle, in order to optimize one's functional capacity and ability to perform daily activities. In order to achieve this goal, the following impact objectives were established:
- Enhance enjoyment and participation in a variety of physical activities
- Develop and enhance the skills, knowledge, and self-efficacy needed to
establish and maintain an active lifestyle
- Ensure the affordability and accessibility of the program
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Public Safety, Children
Goal: The goal of this program is to increase booster seat use among children aged 4 to 8 years.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Children's Health, Children
Goal: The goal of this program is to ensure the health and safety of children attending day care facilities and the staff who care for them.
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children
Goal: The central goal of CDP is to help schools become "caring communities of learners" by offering an environment of caring, supportive, and collaborative relationships to build students' sense of community in school and to promote school bonding.
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children, Urban
Goal: The goals of this program are to provide a stable learning environment that will promote scholastic development, to enhance parent-child relationships, and to prevent delinquency.