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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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Young at Heart Project (California)

Filed under Good Idea, Art & Recreation / Music, Older Adults

Goal: The Young at Heart Project aims to provide the therapeutic benefits of music and entertainment for senior citizens in convalescent and residential care facilities throughout Central and Northern California.

Young Parents Program (Boston, MA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Children, Teens, Urban

Goal: The goal of the Young Parents Program is to help inner city teenage parents learn positive attitudes, behaviors, and parenting skills so that their children experience healthy growth and development a during their early and critical years.

Youth United Through Health Education (YUTHE) Program (San Francisco)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of the program is to increase awareness of screening for sexually transmitted infections in African-American adolescents.

Youth Villages YVLifeSet

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Social Environment, Teens

Goal: Youth Villages helps children and families live successfully.

Youth Work Together to Improve Community Conditions

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment

Goal: The goal of this initiative was to pinpoint community conditions that were detrimental to health in the Planada, California community.

Impact: The Student Education Empowerment Development Squad (SEEDS), with the help of the Central California Regional Obesity Prevention Program (CCROPP), addressed community issues through a youth-led process using Prevention Institute’s Tool for Health and Resilience in Vulnerable Environments (THRIVE).

Zoning for a Healthy Baltimore

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Built Environment, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of Zoning for a Healthy Baltimore is to influence the final version of Baltimore’s new zoning code by informing stakeholders and decision-makers about the new zoning code’s potential to create healthy communities and decrease health disparities, with an emphasis on preventing obesity and crime.

Impact: Zoning for a Healthy Baltimore is an HIA of the Baltimore zoning code rewrite in order to maximize the potential to create healthier communities. Since publication, Baltimore has revised its zoning code to incorporate dispersal standards and other strategies related to placement of alcohol outlets.

Flex Your Power Case Study: San Bernardino County (San Bernardino County)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability

Goal: San Bernardino County’s goal in 2001 was to reduce its energy use by 10 percent.

Seven Principles Project - San Francisco (San Francisco)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Teens, Adults, Women, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goals of the SevenPrinciples Project, funded by the CDC's REACH 2010 Initiative, are to: eliminate disparities in infant mortality rates; improve African American infant survival; and improve the health of families and communities with infants through developing community capacity.

Information & Education Campaign for Health Care Providers (Santa Cruz County, CA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality

Goal: The goal of the project was to publish an up-to-date Essential Reporting Guidelines which would be distributed to approximately 90% of healthcare providers in Santa Cruz county. As mentioned above, they wanted to increase reporting and surveillance activities with the primary physicians and also educate them on bioterrorism agents.

Flex Your Power Case Study: Elihu M Harris State Building (San Francisco)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability

Goal: The goal of this program was to improve the energy efficiency of the Elihu Harris State Office Building.

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.