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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.

Practices that were submitted by local partners are listed first and will have a green box below them that indicates they are local. Users can also use the search features to find promising practices from across the country.

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Zoning for a Healthy Baltimore

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Built Environment, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of Zoning for a Healthy Baltimore is to influence the final version of Baltimore’s new zoning code by informing stakeholders and decision-makers about the new zoning code’s potential to create healthy communities and decrease health disparities, with an emphasis on preventing obesity and crime.

Impact: Zoning for a Healthy Baltimore is an HIA of the Baltimore zoning code rewrite in order to maximize the potential to create healthier communities. Since publication, Baltimore has revised its zoning code to incorporate dispersal standards and other strategies related to placement of alcohol outlets.

¡Salud! Services (Hillsboro, OR)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goals of Salud Services are to:
-Promote wellness and prevention
-Value cultural beliefs
-Promote health and safety in the worksite
-Be a cultural broker for the clients
-Collaborate with other agencies

Bicultural Competence Skills Approach

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Rural

Goal: The goal of the Bicultural Competence Skills Approach is to prevent substance abuse by Native American adolescents.

Body & Soul (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Adults, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of the Body & Soul program is to encourage African Americans to eat a healthy diet rich in fruit and vegetables in order to promote health and prevent cancer and other chronic diseases.

Campesinos Diabetes Management Program (Yuma County, AZ)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Diabetes, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Rural

Goal: The goal of the Campesinos Diabetes Management Program was build social support as a means to improve self-management of diabetes.

Charlotte REACH 2010 (Charlotte, North Carolina)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Diabetes, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: To improve three health behaviors that are risk factors for diabetes and heart disease (fruit & vegetable consumption, physical activity, and cigarette smoking) in an African American community.

Experience Corps (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children, Older Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of Experience Corps is to improve the cognitive, physical, and psychological function of retired senior citizens while simultaneously employing their free time to help narrow the achievement gap in urban, low-income elementary schools

Focus on the Future (Kentucky)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of Focus on the Future is to reduce STD reinfections among young African American heterosexual males through correct and consistent condom use.

Health Works for Women (North Carolina)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Women, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: Health Works for Women aims to help low-income and minority women improve their health by eating healthier, being physically active, quitting smoking, and managing their stress.

Impact: This health promotion project was a successful model for blue collared women to obtain certain health behavior changes.

HIV Sexual Risk Reduction Intervention (San Francisco, CA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: To increase consistent condom use among low-income African American young adults.

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.
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