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, Health / Alternative Medicine, Rural
Goal: The goal of GUAMAP is to train rural community health workers to provide remote settlements in northern Guatemala with access to sustainable, low-cost, low-technology, effective health care through the use of acupuncture.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Urban
Goal: To provide temporary housing to former foster youth between the ages 18 and 24 and to help them become independent adults.
Filed under Good Idea, Community / Civic Engagement
Goal: The program's mission is to bring community members together to provide food for the hungry by promoting sustainable use of excess resources.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Families, Urban
Goal: To combat childhood obesity through mobile health education, community partnership, and access to existing federal, state, and local health and nutrition programs.
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / School Environment, Children, Teens
Goal: The goal of school-based health centers is to reduce gaps in education and increase health equity in low-income communities.
Impact: When targeted to low-income communities, school-based health centers are likely to narrow gaps in education and improve health equity.
Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants, Urban
Goal: The goal of this program is to ensure that city planning and policy making accounts for how land use development impacts community health resources.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Adults, Urban
Goal: The goal of this program is to educate during every visit, to assist patients in developing a longitudinal personal record of medical history and care plans, and to provide a tangible way to engage patients in their own care. The overarching goal was better compliance, recognition of medication side effects, and improved adherence to specific and agreed upon lifestyle changes.
Impact: Sixty percent of patients participate in care plan tracking with a health notebook, and 80% percent of patients complete a prep form to help organize visits.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health, Older Adults, Urban
Goal: The goal of the program was to target the housing support needs of its members with the objective of reducing institutionalization, improving quality of life, and reducing total costs of care.
Impact: The large majority of participants surveyed indicated that their quality of life was maintained or increased during the pilot and that they were satisfied with the program.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The aim of the Healthier Haskell program is to improve health and prevent obesity in the American Indian population by encouraging physical activity and healthy eating.
Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Built Environment
Goal: The goal of this program is to promote active people in active neighborhoods