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, Economy / Housing & Homes
Goal: Horizon House believes homeless guests possess strengths that are key to ending their homelessness, and states its mission is "to be a focal point for services and assistance to empower individuals and families to no longer be homeless."
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Other Conditions
Goal: The goal of this study was to determine the effect Community Health Worker programs have on healthcare spending.
Impact: The studies show that CHW programs can help reduce emergency department visits and hospital use.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality
Goal: The John Hopkins Community Health Partnership's (J-CHiP) goal is to improve care coordination with Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.
Impact: The John Hopkins Community Health Partnership participants saw lower spending and improved health outcomes in regards to hospital admissions, re-admissions, and emergency department visits.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Rural
Goal: The goal of the Clinic is to provide health services for uninsured and underinsured families and individuals.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens
Goal: Given the increased prevalence among youth of obesity and Type II Diabetes Mellitus (DM) in the last 25 years, the goal of Kids N Fitness is to reduce risk factors associated with metabolic syndrome in overweight youth through a family-oriented lifestyle intervention.
Impact: These positive health outcomes indicate that a family-centered lifestyle intervention can improve metabolic health among youth.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Social Environment, Children, Teens, Adults, Women, Men, Families, Urban
Goal: Research shows that children benefit from kinship care in many ways. Kinship care can reduce the trauma that children may have previously endured and the trauma that accompanies parental separation by providing them with a sense of stability and belonging in an otherwise unsettling time. Children who have been placed with relatives may have experienced chronic neglect and physical, sexual, or emotional abuse. While these experiences place children at risk for behavioral and health problems, a positive relationship with a caregiver and a stable and supportive living environment can mitigate their impact.1 Grandparents, other relative caregivers, and “fictive kin” — close friends holding a family-like bond with a child — are in a unique position to fill this supportive role and promote resiliency.
The goal of Kinship Connections is to support kin families' social, emotional, and economic needs to increase placement stability within the child’s community. Specific program objectives are to improve family economic security, family relationship functioning, child well-being, and to increase kin caregiver social support.
1Center on the Developing Child. (2007). The impact of early adversity on children’s development (InBrief). Retrieved from https://developingchild.harvard.edu/ resources/inbrief-the-impact-of-early-adversity-onchildrens-development.
2 Generations United. (2017). In loving arms: The protective role of grandparents and other relatives in raising children exposed to trauma. Retrieved from https://dl2.pushbulletusercontent.com/ uhDY7UgdGYnOod6G7VFkdKnuzE3yALmr/17- InLovingArms-Grandfamilies.pdf.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Children's Health, Children, Urban
Goal: The goal of Leading, Integrating, Networking for Kids is to provide mental health services for children in schools.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Children, Urban
Goal: Linking the Interests of Families and Teachers (LIFT) is a research intervention program designed to prevent the development of aggressive and antisocial behavior.
Impact: Evidence suggests that LIFT can be a useful tool for promoting effective parenting in the home and decreasing aggressive behaviors with peers at school and on the playground. LIFT participants exhibited a decrease in child physical aggression toward classmates on the playground, an increase in teachers' positive impressions of child social skills with classmates, and a decrease in parents' aversive behavior during family problem-solving discussions.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Families
Goal: MYOC aims to improve clinical practice, care, and outcome regarding children's weight.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Older Adults
Goal: To assess whether an Individualized Management for Patient-Centered Targets (IMPaCT), delivered by community health workers improved patients' chronic disease management and self-rated physical and mental health.
Impact: Individuals with multiple chronic conditions when paired with a community health worker will perceive that their care is higher quality and may have fewer hospitalizations.