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, Health / Children's Health, Children
Youth Fit for Life aims to increase physical activity among children enrolled in after-school care programs.
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Literacy, Urban
YO! Baltimore helps young people, previously disconnected from traditional learning environments, to increase their wage earnings and education credentials.
Filed under Good Idea, Education / Literacy, Teens
Youth Speaks aims to empower youth and effect change through written and oral literacy.
Filed under Good Idea, Community / Social Environment, Children, Teens, Urban
Community Memorial Foundation's goal was two-fold: to decrease stigma surrounding youth depression and suicide and increase teen utilization of the Crisis Text Line.
An awareness campaign that incorporates age- and culturally-appropriate actors through various media can successfully increase teen and adolescent usage of a crisis text hotline.
Filed under Good Idea, Community / Civic Engagement, Children, Urban
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.
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children, Urban
- 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.
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Social Environment, Teens
Youth Villages helps children and families live successfully.
Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment
The goal of this initiative was to pinpoint community conditions that were detrimental to health in the Planada, California community.
The Student Education Empowerment Development Squad (SEEDS), with the help of the Central California Regional Obesity Prevention Program (CCROPP), addressed community issues through a youth-led process using Prevention Institute’s Tool for Health and Resilience in Vulnerable Environments (THRIVE).
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children
The McLean County program's mission is "to offer young people a once in a lifetime opportunity to build their futures and their communities through education, leadership development, job training, and the rehabilitation and production of affordable housing, while keeping a profound respect for and a commitment to real partnership with youth."
Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Built Environment, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
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.
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.