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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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Operation Walking Shield

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: Walking Shield's mission is to improve the quality of life and create positive futures for American Indians who live on our nation's reservations by managing and coordinating programs that provide shelter, healthcare, food and clothing, educational assistance, community development assistance, and humanitarian support.

Opportunity Chicago (Chicago, IL)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Employment, Adults

Goal: Opportunity Chicago's goal was to identify employment barriers within the system and to reduce those barriers by creating processes that would result in a smoother and more streamlined path to employment for CHA residents.

Impact: Of the 6,743 participants in an Opportunity Chicago program between 2006 and 2010, 5,185 (77%) were employed by the end of the project. Fifty-four percent retained employment for two or more years. Fifty-nine percent of participants saw an increase in quarterly earnings.

Opportunity NYC Demonstrations- Work Rewards (New York City)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Economy / Poverty, Adults, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program was to increase the workforce efforts of low-income adults living in subsidized housing.

Oral Health Equity Project (Boston, MA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Oral Health, Older Adults

Goal: The mission of the Oral Health Equity Project (OHEP) is to increase access to preventative services and dental care for economically disadvantaged elders living in Boston's public housing. The specific goal of the three-year project is to provide oral health screening to 1000 low-income elders.

Osteofit (Canada)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Older Adults, Adults

Goal: To reduce and prevent falls in people with osteoporosis and osteopenia through exercise and education.

Para Su Salud (Los Angeles)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Children, Adults, Families

Goal: The program’s goal is to increase access to health care by assisting children and their families in Los Angeles County to enroll in health coverage programs and utilize and retain these benefits.

Parent Navigator Program (Washington, D.C.)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Children's Health, Children, Families, Urban

Goal: The program aims to provide ongoing comprehensive care coordination to children with medically complex and chronic conditions within Children's National health care system.

Parent to Parent Program (Marin, Napa, Solano and Sonoma, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Disabilities, Children, Families

Goal: The program's mission is to empower families of children with special needs to understand and access the systems that serve them.

Parents' Fair Share

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Social Environment, Families

Goal: The goals of the program included helping unemployed, noncustodial parents (primarily fathers) to secure employment, pay child support, and participate more fully and responsibly as parents.

Partners in Healing (Merced County, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of the Partners in Healing Program is to improve health care and access to health services among Hmong refugees.

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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