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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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Nexus: Connecting Families to Recovery Program (Milwaukee, WI)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Families

Goal: NEXUS intends to provide the collaboration & communication needed for consumers to recover from alcohol and other drug abuse issues in a positive, supportive and nurturing environment.

PAX Tools for Human Services (Tucson/Pima/Arizona)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children, Teens, Adults, Women, Men, Older Adults, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: PAXIS Institute develops, implements, and supports tested and proven solution-focused strategies with real-world outcomes for children and the adults who care for them in partnership with communities to reduce historical disparities and improve lifetime outcomes to create population-level peace, productivity, health, and happiness.

The mission of the PAX Tools for Human Services program is to empower individuals and communities to create a more nurturing environment with universal access to research-based prevention science in order to improve the well-being and lifetime outcomes of people from all walks of life around the world.

Project START (USA)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Adults

Goal: The goal of Project START is to reduce sexual risk behavior of young men re-entering the community after incarceration.

Setting up a Kids Voting Program to Increase Civic Participation (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Civic Engagement, Children

Goal: The goal of Kids Voting USA is to foster civic awareness at an early age to deal with the problems of voter apathy and nonparticipation.

Starting Right Initiative

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Families

Goal: The Starting Right Initiative works to prevent, treat and reverse childhood obesity and malnutrition in low-income communities.

Impact: The Starting Right Initiative aims to encourage healthy eating habits in children and their families and works to reduce childhood obesity and malnutrition at seven project locations nationwide.

SteppingStone Place (Phoenix. AZ)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes

Goal: The goal of this program is to provide supportive housing for homeless people living with HIV/AIDS and/or substance abuse problems.

Steps to a Healthier Yuma County (Yuma County, Arizona)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Rural

Goal: The goal of Steps to a Healthier Yuma County is to prevent obesity and diabetes in young children.

Storytelling to Promote Colorectal Cancer Screening (Arizona)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Cancer, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of this program is to use storytelling to increase colorectal cancer screening and improve nutrition and physical activity among underserved Latina women.

JumpStart (Wisconsin)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Transportation, Families

Goal: The goal of this program is to assist low-income households in obtaining a personal vehicle.

Menominee Nation’s Culturally Informed Settings Across Systems

Filed under Good Idea, Health

Impact: Among other improvements, the 4-year graduation rate for Menominee Indian High School increased from less than 60% in 2008 to 92% for the 2015-16 school year.

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.