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 Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Built Environment
The goal of this program is to help protect, restore, and conserve the air, water, land and ecosystem resources of Miami-Dade County.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Children's Health, Children
The goal of this program is to reduce the impact of lead poisoning and to prevent new cases of lead poisoning among Niagara County children.
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Children
Florida started the drug court movement by creating the first treatment-based drug court in the nation in 1989. The drug court concept was developed in Dade County (Miami, Florida) stemming from a federal mandate to reduce the inmate population or suffer the loss of federal funding. The Supreme Court of Florida recognized the severity of the situation and directed Judge Herbert Klein to research the problem. Judge Klein determined that a large majority of criminal inmates had been incarcerated because of drug charges and were revolving back through the criminal justice system because of underlying problems of drug addiction. It was decided that the delivery of treatment services needed to be coupled with the criminal justice system and the need for strong judicial leadership and partnerships to bring treatment services and the criminal justice system together.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Rural
The goal of Steps to a Healthier Yuma County is to prevent obesity and diabetes in young children.
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 / Toxins & Contaminants, Urban
The goal of this program is to reduce food waste in order to achieve the ultimate Alameda County goal of a 75% landfill diversion rate by the year 2010.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality
The goal of Project Access is to improve access to specialty health care in Buncombe County.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants, Families
The Healthy Neighborhoods program seeks to reduce housing related illness and injury through prevention and education.
In the past five years, the HNP visited 31,000 homes with 85,000 residents, and provided the asthma intervention to 11,000 adults and children with asthma. The assessments created a valuable data set about the health effects of housing hazards.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Prevention & Safety, Teens
The goals of the MCM are to provide a comprehensive and centralized concussion care program to 1) increase concussion awareness and identification through education and training; 2) facilitate the return to play decision with effective medical treatment, which includes baseline neurocognitive testing; and 3) implement a standardized concussion care protocol and concussion injury surveillance system to assist in the prevention of concussions, improve player safety, and limit school liability.
From the pilot evaluation of the model it was determined that the MCM model or a similarly designed one is effective in increasing the number of concussions identified, reported, and also treated at a clinic.
Filed under Good Idea, Education / Literacy, Families
The program's goal is to provide school readiness activities for families with children, from birth to five years old, who live in isolated and under-served areas of Marin County.