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 Local, Effective Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens
Goal: The mission of Pushback Agasint Drug Abuse is to raise awareness of and eliminate the misuse of alcohol and other drugs in Marathon County.
Impact: Overall, communities funded by Drug Free Communities (DFC) have seen a reduction in alcohol and drug use among youth. Community coalitions like Marathon County’s are valuable tools for eliminating youth substance abuse.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Cancer, Adults
Goal: The goal of this program is to improve colorectal cancer screening rates among older adults.
Impact: Participants in the intervention group had significantly higher colorectal cancer screening attendance, as well as having more positive attitudes about screening and placing a higher priority on screening.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Families
Goal: The goal of Care-A-Van is to provide access to medical care for uninsured and impoverished working families.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The Black Infant Health Program aims to reduce African-American infant mortality through the Social Support and Empowerment model - a faith-based program which seeks to:
- Educate
- Ensure access to care for at-risk pregnant and parenting women and their infants.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Nutrition & Healthy Eating, Rural
Goal: CVAN is the Kansas conduit for tons of healthy produce from the Catholic Charities Mary Martha Organization--the steward of excess highly perishable high quality foods from a huge Walmart Distribution Center in Oklahoma. As food supplies allow, CVAN distributes to the 100 square mile school district and to share with a networked family of pantries and volunteer organizations in five Kansas counties and South Coffeyville, OK. As needed, CVAN has recruited distribution volunteers in covering communities within this economically depressed region. The network family was built upon the CVAN’s supply of fresh produce, but is now blessing this area with distribution of CARES foods during the COVID crisis. Its volunteers are food warriors--winning in the fight against rural hunger.
Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability, Urban
Goal: Besides attempting to prevent rolling blackouts, the City of San Jose wanted to participate in the water conservation program to reduce the amount of treated wastewater that is released into San Francisco Bay.
Specific goals included:
-Continue to support SCVWD's mission of water supply and management in spite of external power interruptions,
- Provide 24-hour battery backup for SCADA instrumentation and communications,
-Provide indefinite power backup via backup generators for critical source pumping, water treatment and emergency operations, and
- Reduce HVAC and lighting use to prudent levels.
Filed under Good Idea, Community / Civic Engagement, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The Initiative's goal was to increase voter participation rates among infrequent voters, particularly in low-income and ethnic communities.
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Teens
Goal: The school's philosophy is "to provide the individual student with the academic and vocational/technical skills essential to achieve success in a productive career as well as to provide the global community with a highly qualified and prepared workforce."
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Respiratory Diseases, Children, Teens, Adults, Families
Goal: The goal of the Hawaii Catch-A-Roach Project is to reduce preventable asthma complications and emergency room visits and hospitalizations by increasing awareness of the link between cockroaches and asthma and reducing exposure to cockroaches.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Prevention & Safety, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Rural
Goal: The mission of Migrant Health Promotion is to strengthen the capacity of farmworker and migrant families to live healthy lives within healthy communities.