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 Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children
The goal of Coordinated Approach to Child Health (CATCH) is to improve nutrition, increase physical activity, and reduce obesity in preschool, elementary, and middle school aged children.
CATCH is successful in improving participants' diet and physical activity, and the results lasted three years after participation.
Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Built Environment
The goal of the Cornell Waste Management Institute project was to increase the capacity to compost the tremendous amount of food scraps produced in New York State.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education / Educational Attainment, Adults
The goal of this program is to improve outcomes among Community College students who are on academic probation.
Enhanced Opening Doors helps low-income students earn college credentials as the pathway to better jobs and further education.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Children, Families, Urban
The goal of this immunization case management intervention is to improve immunization rates among infants of low-income, urban, African American families.
Immunization case management increased the knowledge of immunization schedules, rate of well-child visits, and up-to-date immunization rate for children of participating families.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens
Given the increased prevalence among youth of obesity and Type II Diabetes Mellitus (DM) in the last 25 years, the goal of Kids N Fitness is to reduce risk factors associated with metabolic syndrome in overweight youth through a family-oriented lifestyle intervention.
These positive health outcomes indicate that a family-centered lifestyle intervention can improve metabolic health among youth.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Wellness & Lifestyle, Men, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Reduce unprotected insertive and receptive anal intercourse among HIV-negative black men who have sex with men (MSM) as well as to reduce the number of sex partners, increase consistent condom use during anal intercourse and increase testing for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Men, Urban
The goals of Mpowerment are to mobilize young gay and bisexual men to reduce sexual risk taking, encourage regular HIV testing, and build positive social connections with peers.
The Mpowerment intervention successfully developed a mechanism to socialize young gay men to safer sex. Since this intervention relies primarily on volunteers, it is relatively inexpensive for communities to maintain and can continue to be made available for future generations.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Economy / Poverty, Families, Urban
The goal of this program was to help poor families build up their “human capital” and avoid long-term poverty.
Filed under Good Idea, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Urban
The goal of Peacekeepers is to prevent violence among youth in the Hunters Point neighborhood of San Francisco.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Cancer, Adults, Women, Urban
The goal of the Prevention Care Management program is to increase cancer screening among women.
Prevention Care Management increased mammography rates, cervical cancer screening rates, and colorectal cancer screening rates among participating women.