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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.

Youth Empowerment Program (Manchester, NH)

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Employment, Children

Goal: The goal of this program is to give Manchester area youth tools to earn their GEDs and meet their career goals.

Youth Together (Oakland)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Civic Engagement, Children, Urban

Goal: The mission of Youth Together is to develop the potential of youth to be critical thinkers, engaged community members, and social change agents in their schools and communities.

Youth Uprising (Oakland, CA)

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

Goal: Youth UpRising aims to build youth leadership and affect positive community change by ensuring that youth and young adults are supported in the following key areas:
- Consciousness Raising that exposes them to a broader set of realities to develop their capacity to think critically about personal and community experiences;
- Personal Transformation that builds their capacity to transform experiences of trauma and oppression into opportunities for positive personal and community change; and
- Hard Skill/Leadership Development that increases their creativity, strengths, and skills as effective leaders who are competitive in the marketplace.

Fathers at Work Initiative (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Employment, Adults

Goal: The initiative's goal was to help young noncustodial fathers increase their employment and earnings, become more involved in their children's lives, and increase their financial support of their children.

Public Health Communications Response to the Influenza Vaccine Shortage (Pinellas County, FL)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Governance, Older Adults, Families

Goal: The goal was to provide flu vaccine to those most at risk while minimizing public alarm and gaining acceptance by employees that the traditionally free flu vaccine would not be available.

Providing Summer Youth Activities (Dallas County, AR)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Art & Recreation / Sports Recreation & Parks, Children, Rural

Goal: The goal of the "Summer Sizzlers" program is to offer productive activities for youth to participate in during the summer vacation.

Art Not Crime (Portland, Oregon)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Social Environment, Children, Teens, Adults, Urban

Goal: Art Not Crime promotes social sustainability by providing a safe place for individuals to create urban inspired pieces of art and display them where their art is appreciated as the language of this new culture and not classified as crime.

5-A-Day Power Plus (St. Paul, MN)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children

Goal: To increase fruit and vegetable consumption among children using a multi-component approach.

A Disinfection and Hand Hygiene Program for Schools (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Adults, Families

Goal: To reduce gastrointestinal and respiratory illness-related absenteeism in elementary school students by using surface disinfectants.

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.