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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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Family Matters (USA)

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

Goal: The goal of this program is to prevent tobacco and alcohol abuse among adolescents.

Fit Community (North Carolina)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens, Families

Goal: The goal of the Fit Community initiative is to recognize communities that are making better quality of life a real priority by granting them awards to help in the implementation of community interventions targeting physical activity and healthy eating.

Flex Your Power Case Study: City of Atascadero (Atascadero, CA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability

Goal: The goal of this project was to reduce energy usage in government buildings. Long-term objectives were: Research solar, wind and new roofing project; and consider replacing and upgrading wastewater treatment equipment, which was the city's biggest energy user (representing approximately 47 percent of the annual kilowatt usage.)

Flex Your Power Case Study: Orange County Water District (Orange County, CA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability

Goal: OCWD's goals in 2001 were to reduce energy load, save money and preserve/extend equipment life. Its projects targeted power use in buildings' electrical/lighting systems; chemical and energy management issues concerning the plant treatment process and HVAC systems; and energy use by employees and ultimately customers.

Fuel Up to Play 60 (USA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children

Goal: The goal of Fuel Up to Play 60 is to increase consumption of nutrient-rich foods and encourage school children to get at least 60 minutes of physical activity each day.

Gilda's Club (New York, NY)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Cancer

Goal: The mission of Gilda's Club is to provide places where men, women, and children with cancer and their families and friends join with others to build social and emotional support as a supplement to medical care.

Girls 2000 (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Social Environment, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of Girls 2000 is to provide low-income girls with exposure and experiences to help them overcome obstacles that they may encounter.

Green Chemistry (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants

Goal: The goal of Green Chemistry is to promote environmentally benign design of chemical products and processes.

Green Power Partnership - Bellingham's global warming pollution reduction through use of green power (Bellingham)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Air

Goal: The goal is for cities or companies to reduce their carbon footprint. For example, research shows that buying 100 percent green power is the most significant step the City of Bellingham can take to protect the climate; it would eliminating more than 65 percent of the global warming pollution caused by municipal operations.

GreenScapes (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Built Environment

Goal: The goal of GreenScapes is to encourage companies and organizations to make more environmentally conscious landscaping decisions and to reduce, reuse, recycle and rebuy.

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.