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 Evidence-Based Practice, Economy, Adults
Goal: Year Up's mission is to close the Opportunity Divide by ensuring that young adults gain the skills, experiences, and support that will empower them to reach their potential through careers and higher education.
Impact: These approaches tend to be intensive and comprehensive, address psycho-social skills as well as occupation-specific competencies, provide opportunities for work-based learning, engage employers, incorporate evidence-based practices, and emphasize continuous improvement.
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Literacy, Urban
Goal: YO! Baltimore helps young people, previously disconnected from traditional learning environments, to increase their wage earnings and education credentials.
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Social Environment, Teens
Goal: Youth Villages helps children and families live successfully.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders
Goal: The Zero Suicide Initiative is a comprehensive model of suicide prevention that challenges health and behavioral health care systems to strive for zero suicides among those in their care.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Adults, Urban
Goal: To engage patients who may benefit from early intervention and/or education about substance use disorders, and to direct the individuals toward treatment options at the most appropriate levels of care.
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Literacy, Children, Teens, Urban
Goal: The mission of 826 National is to help children ages 6-18 develop their writing skills, and to help teachers get their students excited about writing. The mission is based on the understanding that great leaps in learning can happen with one-on-one attention, and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Adults
Goal: To reduce weight in overweight and obese patients using mobile-based text and multimedia messaging.
Impact: At the end of a 4-month period, participants in the text-message based intervention showed greater weight loss than the control group.
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: Abriendo Puertas, developed for and by Latino parents, aims to increase the number of Latino children in the United States that enter school ready to learn and be able to succeed in life by building the capacity and confidence of parents to be strong advocates in the lives of their children.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality
Goal: AccessHealth Spartanburg's mission is to improve access to healthcare for the uninsured of Spartanburg County, SC.
Impact: AHS reduced inappropriate emergency room use and inpatient caseloads while increasing access to healthcare services for its clients in Spartanburg County. Furthermore, the organization reported a $17 to $1 ROI.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults
Goal: The goal of this promising practice is to increase physical activity in a diverse older adult population.
Impact: Participants in the Active Choices program showed significant increases in physical activity and a greater satisfaction with their body appearance and function. Participants of the program also showed decreases in their BMI.