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.
Effect of a housing and case management program on emergency department visits and hospitalizations among chronically ill homeless adults: a randomized trial (Chicago, Illinois)
Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes, Adults, Women, Men, Older Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
To assess the effectiveness of a case management and housing program in reducing the use of urgent medical services among homeless adults with chronic medical illnesses.
For every 100 homeless adults offered the intervention, the expected benefits over the next year would be 49 fewer hospitalizations, 270 fewer hospital days, and 116 fewer ED visits.
Filed under Good Idea, Education / Literacy, Families
The program's goal is to provide school readiness activities for families with children, from birth to five years old, who live in isolated and under-served areas of Marin County.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults
The goal of the Fit and Strong! program is to improve function among older adults with osteoarthritis.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Children, Families
The goal of Early Head Start (EHS) is to promote healthy prenatal outcomes for pregnant women, enhance the development of very young children, and promote healthy family functioning. The goal of Head Start is to increase school readiness of young children in low-income families.
Studies have demonstrated positive effects of the program for both 3- and 4-year-old children on pre-reading, pre-writing, vocabulary, and parent reports of children’s literacy skills. For 3-year-olds, a greater number of parents reported improved access to health care and better health status.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Women
The initiative's primary purpose was to reduce infant mortality by 50 percent and generally improve maternal and infant health in at-risk communities.
20% of the Healthy Start program sites had significantly lower rates of low-birth-weight babies than their comparisons. 20% of the sites also had significantly lower rates of very-low-birth-weight babies than their comparisons. Four of the sites had significantly lower pre-term birth rates.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education / Literacy, Children, Urban
The goal of HELPS Programs is to strengthen students’ reading fluency so they will be better able to focus on and improve other important reading skills, including comprehension.
HELPS is a supplemental curriculum that improves students reading fluency, a commonly neglected aspect of children's core reading curriculum, in order to help them become successful readers.
Filed under Good Idea, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children, Families, Urban
The program’s goal is to provide comprehensive child development and family support services to families with children 0–3 in order for parents to support and encourage their children’s early growth, development and school readiness.
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Literacy, Children, Families
The program's overall goal is to support parents in their role as their child's first teacher by providing parents with literacy training and children with early development skill building, including language skills.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Other Conditions
The goal of this study was to determine the effect Community Health Worker programs have on healthcare spending.
The studies show that CHW programs can help reduce emergency department visits and hospital use.
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Social Environment
provide financial support for their children, facilitate programs for offender families through community partnerships, and provide constructive opportunities for children to participate in special activities with their incarcerated father.