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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.

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YMCA's Diabetes Prevention Program (Northeast Florida counties)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Diabetes, Adults

Goal: The goal is for participants to lose seven percent of their body weight and increase their physical activity to 150 minutes per week in order to reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Aid Success Project (California and Ohio)

Filed under Good Idea, Education / Educational Attainment

Goal: The goal of the Aid Success Project is to improve the information that students receive about financial aid in the hopes of improving their academic success.

Bon Secours Community Works "Re-Entry Success" Program (Baltimore, MD)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention

Goal: The goal of the program is to empower individuals to look to themselves to support society after life in prison.

Impact: The program helps people adjust to life after prison.

Intensive Probation Supervision (Cuyahoga County, OH)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Children

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce recidivism rates for serious felony juvenile offenders.

Opportunity Passport

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Investment & Personal Finance, Children, Teens

Goal: The Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative is a national foundation whose mission is to help youth in foster care make successful transitions to adulthood.

Putnam County Early Entry into Prenatal Care-WIC (Putnam County, FL)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Women

Goal: The goal of this program is to increase prenatal entry into WIC. The ultimate purpose is to lower the rate of low birth weight as well as the rate of infant mortality.

STARS (Start Taking Alcohol Risks Seriously) for Families (Florida)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of this program is for youths to postpone alcohol use until adulthood.

The Cultural Exchange Program (Palm Beach County, FL)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Civic Engagement

Goal: The goal of this program is to foster cultural understanding among the communities of West Palm Beach.

Tobacco-Free Nebraska (Nebraska)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce tobacco use in Nebraska.

Vial of Life (Flagler County, FL)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults

Goal: The goal of this program is to provide emergency responders with crucial medical information about seniors so that they will be better able to assist in the event of an emergency.

An Effective Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success and/or promise in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures of improvement in outcome of interest (i.e. increase in voter registration, not just delivery of voter registration drive) and/ or the outcome measure is increased or improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant.

A Good Idea meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program funding source, program implementation steps and outcomes.
  2. The program evaluation is limited to descriptive measure(s) of success/accomplishment (i.e., program participation rates, number of services/education sessions/radio messages provided). Note: oftentimes, the program has been newly implemented and a program evaluation has not yet been conducted. Programs that have not yet been evaluated, but which show promise in improving health or quality of life, are classified as Good Ideas until an evaluation is conducted.

An Evidence-Based Practice meets the following HCI criteria:

  1. The program description includes at a minimum: the sponsoring organization, program goals, program implementation steps, and outcomes that have demonstrated program success in achieving the program goal in one or more localities.
  2. The results from an evaluation of the program include quantitative measures showing improvement in the outcome(s) of interest after the implementation of the program (i.e. increase in smoking cessation, not just the delivery of a smoking cessation program). The outcome measure(s) is/are compared at relevant time periods before and after the intervention or program implementation. Alternatively, the evaluation study compares the outcome(s) between an intervention group and an appropriate control group.
  3. The study is of peer-review quality and presents numbers in a scientific manner; measurements of precision and reliability are included (e.g. confidence intervals, standard errors), results from statistical tests show a significant difference or change in the outcome measure(s), and relevant point estimates and p-values are presented. Note: if the results from an evaluation of a program are presented in a scientific manner and the outcome measure is improved compared to the baseline measurement or the control group but the difference is not statistically significant, the practice is classified as effective and not evidence-based.
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