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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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Lead Safe Babies (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Children

Goal: The goal of this program is to ensure that children never become lead poisoned.

Mapping Our Voices for Equity (MOVE) (King County, WA)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Community & Business Resources, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: MOVE goals are to visually demonstrate health inequities and positive changes in Washington State, to highlight local Communities Putting Prevention to Work efforts to improve health, and to foster local partnerships.

Impact: The MOVE initiative is empowering community members to identify and raise awareness of the health inequities impacting them.

Market Makeovers/Corner Store Conversions (South Los Angeles)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens, Adults, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce childhood obesity and diabetes by increasing access to nutritious food for children and families.

Mass in Motion (Massachusetts)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Adults

Goal: Mass in Motion aims to reduce obesity and promote healthy eating and physical activity through school and workplace policy changes, grants for communities, and an educational website.

Miami-Dade County Environmentally Endangered Lands Program (Miami-Dade County, FL)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Built Environment

Goal: The goal of this program is to help protect, restore, and conserve the air, water, land and ecosystem resources of Miami-Dade County.

Michigan Family Independence Agency (Kent County, MI)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Employment

Goal: The goal of this program is to move employable TANF recipients into the workforce and to provide job retention support.

Million Hearts (USA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke, Adults

Goal: Million Hearts seeks to prevent one million heart attacks and strokes in the next five years (by 2017) by coordinating cardiovascular prevention implementations in its private-public partnerships.

Missouri Information for Community Assessment (MICA) (Missouri)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Cancer

Goal: The goal of this project is to educate citizens, health professionals, researchers, and policy makers about cancer in Missouri. Complete, timely, and high-quality data are essential for conducting research and responding to public concerns about cancer incidence in their communities.

Mix It Up!

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Civic Engagement, Children, Teens

Goal: Mix It Up seeks to create inclusive school communities by breaking down social barriers and conflicts that lead to bullying and violence.

Multistate Investigation into Ameriquest's Predatory Lending Practices

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes

Goal: The goal of this investigation was to stop Ameriquest's predatory lending practices.

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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