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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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Oklahoma Marriage Initiative (Oklahoma)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Social Environment, Families

Goal: The OMI is a multi-sector effort to reduce the state's divorce rate, strengthen families, and reduce dependency on government support.

Portland's Local Action Plan to Reduce Carbon Dioxide Emissions (Portland, OR)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Air, Urban

Goal: The 2001 action plan, which is more aggressive than the Kyoto Protocol, calls for a 10 percent reduction below 1990 carbon dioxide emissions by 2010.

Prenatal Oral Hygiene (Dental Hygiene Kits) (Clinton County, NY)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Women

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve the individual oral hygiene practices of the prenatal women in order to reduce the number of low birth weight, pre-term infants born to this population.

San Francisco Working Families Credit (San Francisco)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Government Assistance, Families, Urban

Goal: The WFC has three primary objectives:
-increasing the federal EITC take-up rate;
-promoting asset-building; and
-retaining families in San Francisco.

Senior Wellness Program (St. Augustine, FL)

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

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve the quality of life of residents of Northeast Florida by providing programs and services which raise the health, education and economic standards of citizens living at the lowest social and economic levels.

Smiles for a Lifetime (South Carolina)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Oral Health, Children

Goal: The goal of Smiles for a Lifetime is to make pediatric dental care accessible for all children.

Smoking?...Not in Mama's House! (Kauai District, HI)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Children's Health, Children

Goal: The goal of this program is to prevent children's exposure to secondhand smoke.

Special Needs Project (SNP) (California)

Filed under Good Idea, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children, Families

Goal: The project's goal is to identify children with disabilities and other special needs at an early age and provide those identified with the appropriate support so they can be successful when entering kindergarten.

Summer Bridge (Marin)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children, Families

Goal: The program's goal is to help four- and five-year old children become better prepared for kindergarten.

Taking the HyRoad (Alameda and Contra Costa County, CA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Transportation

Goal: The goal of Taking the HyRoad is to improve fuel economy and reduce the emissions from public transit buses through the use of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.

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.