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 Evidence-Based Practice, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children, Families, Urban
Goal: To prepare children of disadvantaged families for academic success and to strengthen families through intensive home visiting.
Impact: The Parent-Child Home Program builds school readiness, starting from the home. PCHP utilizes a non-directive, in-home modeling approach that encourages children's development, builds meaningful relationships between parents and children, and allows underserved families to access educational early-childhood services.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Social Environment, Children, Families
Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce child behavior problems and delinquency and substance abuse among adolescents, to improve parenting knowledge and skills, and to strengthen the relationship between adolescent and parent.
Impact: Findings from studies show an association between Parenting Wisely participation and improvements in family problem solving, family roles, family involvement, parenting self-efficacy, parenting sense of competence, and decreased adolescent violent behavior.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases
Goal: The goal of Partnership for Health is to reach HIV positive patients during regular doctor visits and increase their knowledge, skills, and motivations to practice safer sex.
Impact: Brief provider counseling emphasizing the negative consequences of unsafe sex can reduce HIV transmission behaviors in HIV-positive patients presenting with risky behavioral profiles.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Respiratory Diseases, Children, Families
Goal: The program’s goal is to help families prevent and/or successfully manage asthma.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: Pasos Adelante is a lifestyle intervention that aims to prevent and control chronic disease such as heart disease and diabetes in Mexican Americans by providing a supporting environment for improving nutrition and increasing walking activity in U.S.-Mexico border communities.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes, Adults, Urban
Goal: The goal of Pathways to Housing, Inc. is to provide independent housing, treatment services for physical and mental health, and employment to mentally ill individuals who are chronically homeless.
Impact: Pathways to Housing has received numerous awards for its projects in New York City, Philadelphia, and D.C. In addition to achieving large effects in terms of housing outcomes, compared with standard care in the community, Housing First also improves community functioning and quality of life.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education / School Environment, Children
Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce youth violence and aggressive behavior by initiating prevention early in childhood, increasing children's resilience, and reinforcing positive behaviors.
Impact: One evaluation found that there was an 89% decrease in physical aggression and an 82% decrease in verbal aggression for participating students.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health
Goal: The goals of the Packard Pediatric Weight Control Program are to (1) help children improve their eating and exercise habits; (2) create a balanced diet; and (3) help participating children maintain or gradually lose weight.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Children, Teens
Goal: The Penn Resiliency Program is a depression prevention program that seeks to reduce the longevity of symptoms exhibited and the severity of symptoms at onset of depression, through cognitive-behavioral therapy and problem-solving techniques.
Impact: The Penn Resiliency program shows that a group-based program seeking to prevent the initial onset of and decrease the exacerbation of depression children and teens by incorporating specific coping and problem-solving skills can reduce depressive symptoms over time.
Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Investment & Personal Finance
Goal: The purpose of the Task Force was to:
1. identify and explore current and proposed strategies for
- building incomes and assets for working families;
- promoting financial education and literacy; and
- protecting working families from predatory and abusive financial services;
2. maximize the coordination of programs that affect working families and create an environment in which they can work together with greater effectiveness and impact;
3. work with charitable foundations, local government agencies, advocacy groups, community and religious leaders, academia, policy and research organizations, and other entities as may be appropriate, to carry out the purpose of the Task Force.