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 Effective Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Teens
Goal: The goal of this program is to prevent suicide and reduce depression among high-school students.
Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes, Adults, Women, Men, Older Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The objective of this article is to describe Project Restoration's approach to cross-sector collaboration with a shared population of high utilizing community members, describe the process and outcomes of the collaboration, provide strategies to mitigate challenges that arise during collaboration and offer insights to inform similar initiatives in communities nationwide.
Impact: Hospitals across the region are assessing ways to establish a centralized infrastructure to collaboratively address the complexities of individual cases, as well as a regional council to explore process improvements to enhance the lives of vulnerable populations.
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Transportation, Children, Teens, Adults, Urban
Goal: The goal of Cycles of Change is to enable community members to use bicycles as a primary form of transportation through bicycle education and distribution programs.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens
Goal: The goal of this program is to prevent further criminal behavior among first-time juvenile misdemeanor drug offenders.
Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants
Goal: The goal of DfE is to facilitate the identification, adoption and innovation of clean products, processes, technologies, and management systems.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Diabetes
Goal: The goal of the DCCP is to improve diabetes care and education in Minnesota.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Diabetes, Children, Teens, Rural
Goal: The goal of DETS project is to increase the understanding and awareness of diabetes among American Indian and Native Alaskan students in kindergarten through high school through a combination of science lesson and traditional value.
Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes, Adults, Older Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban
Goal: The goal of Sojourner Health Clinic is to pick up where the current medical system leaves off by providing free acute and ongoing healthcare to patients who do not have access--or are reluctant to access—traditional routes to a doctor or medicine.
Impact: During 2012, the Sojourner Health Clinic managed to increase the number of diabetic patients with A1C levels below 9 percent from 15% to 83%, reducing the average blood glucose level of patients and giving them a better sense of control over their diabetes.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Diabetes, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The goal of this promising practice was to provide Mexican-Americans with the knowledge, skills, and support to improve general health measures and manage their diabetes.
Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Poverty, Children, Teens, Adults, Women, Men, Older Adults, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban
Goal: As a leader in Kansas City's emergency food network, ECS is committed to providing access to healthy food for the community's food-insecure households. Its mission is to engage the Episcopal and broader communities in feeding the hungry and empowering the poor to move beyond the barriers of poverty with dignity - in short, feeding the hungry & changing lives. ECS is best known for the Kansas City Community Kitchen (KCCK) in the heart of the urban food desert. ECS also works to provide meaningful training experience through the Culinary Cornerstones Training Program, a 30-week immersive program preparing individuals for careers in the culinary world.
Impact: Since implementing the new service model, there has been a 10% average increase in the number of daily meals served at the Kansas City Community Kitchen. There has also been a large increase of volunteers, with an increasing number of recurring volunteers.