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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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A Safe Place (Oakland, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Domestic Violence & Abuse

Goal: A Safe Place's mission is to break the cycle of domestic and family violence by providing safe shelter and support services to victims and their children and to prevent violence through outreach and education in at-risk populations.

Activate West Michigan Coalition (Grand Rapids, MI)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of the Activate West Michigan coalition is to increase fruit and vegetable consumption among low-income individuals.

Active Design Guidelines (New York City, NY)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment, Children, Teens, Adults, Women, Men, Older Adults, Families, Urban

Goal: The goal of the Active Design Guidelines is to provide architects and urban designers with tools to create healthier buildings, urban spaces, and outdoor places based on current academic research and best practices.

Addressing Health Equity in Evaluation Efforts (Boston, MA)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Governance, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The Boston Public Health Commission worked to ensure their efforts were effective in reaching the populations experiencing obesity and tobacco-related health inequities.

Impact: Boston Public Health Commissions' strategic evaluation design allowed the department to make mid-course adjustments and enhanced their ability to contribute to the evidence-base regarding the influence of their initiative on advancing health equity.

Adopt-A-Highway (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants

Goal: The goal of Adopt-A-Highway programs is to improve the appearance of roadsides and to reduce the annual cost of picking up litter on the highway system.

Asian American Diabetes Initiative

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Diabetes, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: Joslin's Asian American Diabetes Initiative has a mission to enhance the quality of life and health outcomes for Asian Americans living with diabetes through research, education, outreach and culturally appropriate treatments.

Impact: Joslin's Asian Clinic provides comprehensive and culturally appropriate diabetes care for Asian Americans.

Asthma Safe Kids (Philadelphia area, PA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce the triggers of asthma by educating and increasing awareness to at risk populations.

Atlanta Streets Alive (Atlanta, GA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens, Adults, Families, Urban

Goal: Atlanta Streets Alive seeks to shift the current car-centric dynamic and replace it with a proactive community that comes together on a regular basis to participate in active transportation, physical activity, cultural and artistic endeavors, and to enjoy our neighborhoods and communities from a different perspective-from the street.

BackPack Program (USA)

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Poverty, Children, Families

Goal: The mission of the BackPack program is to provide food to hungry children at times when other resources are not available, such as weekends and school vacations.

Bank One's Alternative Banking Program (Chicago, IL)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Investment & Personal Finance, Urban

Goal: ABP accounts were designed to offer a safe, convenient, and inexpensive alternative to check-cashing and other high-cost alternative financial services.

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.