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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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Reconnecting Youth (USA)

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

Goal: The Reconnecting Youth program has three main goals: 1) increase school performance; 2) decrease drug involvement; and 3) decrease suicide-risk behaviors.

Impact: Significant increases in positive connections with teachers, friends, and family members; significant improvements in GPA; lasting reductions in hard drug use; decreases in anger-control problems; reductions in depression and hopelessness; and increases in enhancing personal control were observed.

Red Rock Ridge and Val­ley Trail Sys­tem (Jefferson County, AL)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment, Adults, Families

Goal: The Red Rock Ridge & Valley Trail System will be a complete network of bike lanes, sidewalks, and trails connecting communities across Jefferson County.

Impact: The master plan for over 200 miles of shared-use greenways and trails and over 600 miles of street-based bicycle and pedestrian pathways will improve alternative transportation and recreational opportunities.

Renewal House (Western Connecticut region)

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

Goal: The goal of renewal house is to reduce homelessness of older individuals in Greater Danbury Area, CT, by providing safe, secure housing, renewing a sense of hope, reinforcing self-worth and restoring dignity and confidence.

Residential Student Assistance Program

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens

Goal: The goal of this program is to prevent and reduce substance use and abuse among high risk, multi-problem adolescents placed in residential child care facilities.

Impact: One evaluation showed that adolescents participating in RSAP showed significant reductions in their use of alcohol, marijuana, and tobacco from pretest to posttest measures.

Respect for All Training Program (New York)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / School Environment, Urban

Goal: The program’s goal is to make New York City public schools safe and supportive for all students and to have staff members who could support lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) students.

Responding in Peaceful and Positive Ways (RiPP)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Teens

Goal: The goal of this program is to prevent violence among middle school students.

Impact: Rates of violence-related violations among 6th graders were 2.2 times lower in classrooms using RiPP than in non-participating classrooms. In-school suspension rates among 6th graders were also 5.0 times higher in the non-participating classrooms.

Rethink Your Drink / Choose Healthy Drinks (San Francisco Bay Area)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Diabetes, Children, Teens, Adults, Families

Goal: The goal of the Rethink your Drink campaign is to prevent chronic diseases like obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease by reducing sugary drink consumption.

Impact: Rethink your Drink is increasing public awareness of the health effects of consuming sugary beverages.

ReWired for Change (Baltimore, MD)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Social Environment, Children, Teens, Adults, Older Adults, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: ReWired for Change works to empower at risk youth and families living in under-served communities through education, media and social advocacy, and intergenerational programming.

Rideshare-Based Medical Transportation for Medicaid Patients (Philadelphia area, PA)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality

Goal: To evaluate the impact of rideshare-based medical transportation on the proportion of Medicaid patients attending scheduled primary care appointments.

Right Stuff About Renting (RSAR) (Bethlehem, PA)

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Housing & Homes

Goal: The Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley is commited to improve the quality of life in the Lehigh Valley by building a community in which all people have access to economic opportunities, the ability to pursue those opportunities, and a voice in the decisions that affect their lives.

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.