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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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Clean School Bus USA (USA)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Transportation, Children

Goal: The goal of Clean School Bus USA is to reduce both children's exposure to diesel exhaust and the amount of air pollution created by diesel school buses.

Come Home Baltimore (Baltimore, MD)

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Housing & Homes, Adults, Families, Urban

Goal: Come Home Baltimore is an initiative to develop "better than new" market rate housing and foster forward thinking and grassroots social change towards sustainable community development.

Communities for All Ages

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Social Environment

Goal: The goal of the CFAA initiative is to promote community building across ages. The life span approach promotes the well-being of children, youth, and older adults; strengthens families; and provides opportunities for ongoing interaction across ages.

Communities In Schools, Inc. (CIS) (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of this program is to strategically connect resources in schools in order to help young people learn, stay in school, and prepare for life.

Community-Based Multiple Risk Factor Intervention for Cardiovascular Risk (Baltimore, MD)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease among African American families with a history of coronary disease.

Corporation for Supportive Housing (USA)

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Housing & Homes, Adults, Urban

Goal: Corporation for Supportive Housing's mission is to help communities create permanent housing with services to prevent and end homelessness.

Crosstown 116: Bringing Habitat II Home (San Francisco)

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Economic Climate

Goal: The goal of Crosstown 116 was to foster participatory planning, sustainability, gender equity, increased awareness, and housing alternatives.

Dana-Farber Mammography Van (Massachusetts)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Cancer, Women, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of the Mammography Van is to make high quality breast cancer screening services more accessible to women who are medically underserved.

ENERGY STAR (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability, Families

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce energy usage in order to save on energy costs, increase energy reliability, prevent greenhouse gas emissions, and improve national energy security. It is also an essential strategy for reducing natural gas prices and ensuring a balanced energy future in a growing economy.

Fish Advisory Program (USA)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Wildlife

Goal: The goal of this program is to establish a national consistency in the methods, protocols, and approaches to developing and managing noncommercial fish and wildlife consumption advisories. Fish consumption advisories are issued to warn consumers of unsafe levels of chemical contaminants in noncommercial fish and wildlife.

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.