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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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Little Kids Rock (USA)

Filed under Good Idea, Education / School Environment, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of Little Kids Rock is to offer music education free of charge to students in grades K-12.

Neighborhood Market DrillDown + (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Economic Climate, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to promote investments in underserved urban neighborhoods.

New Jersey "Save our Smiles" Fluoride Mouthrinse Program (New Jersey)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Oral Health, Children

Goal: The goal of the New Jersey Department of Health's voluntary fluoride mouth rinse program, "Save Our Smiles" is to improve the oral health status of high need/risk children residing in areas where the water is not optimally fluoridated.

Parenting a Second Time Around (PASTA) (USA)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Social Environment, Older Adults

Goal: The goal of Parenting the Second Time Around (PASTA) is to train facilitators to lead workshops on childcare for grandparent/caregiver relatives.

PFC Emission Reduction Partnerships (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Air

Goal: EPA's partners have committed to reduce PFC emissions 10 percent below their 1995 baseline by 2010.

Safety Counts (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Adults, Women, Men

Goal: The goal of the Safety Counts is to reduce behaviors which place drug users at a high risk of HIV infection.

Senior Corps (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Civic Engagement, Older Adults

Goal: The goal of this program is to match seniors with volunteer opportunities.

SF-6 Emission Reduction Partnership for Electric Power Systems (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Air

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce sulfur hexafluoride emissions from electric power systems.

STARS (Start Taking Alcohol Risks Seriously) for Families (Florida)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of this program is for youths to postpone alcohol use until adulthood.

Supporting Healthy Marriage (USA)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Social Environment

Goal: The goal of Supporting Healthy Marriage is to improve marriage education programs for low-income couples.

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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