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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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Asthma Safe Kids (Philadelphia area, PA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce the triggers of asthma by educating and increasing awareness to at risk populations.

Atlanta Streets Alive (Atlanta, GA)

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

Goal: Atlanta Streets Alive seeks to shift the current car-centric dynamic and replace it with a proactive community that comes together on a regular basis to participate in active transportation, physical activity, cultural and artistic endeavors, and to enjoy our neighborhoods and communities from a different perspective-from the street.

Aurora Firefighters Shots for Tots (Aurora, CO)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Children

Goal: The primary goal of this clinic is to make immunizations more available to parents in an area where children have been identified as lacking needed immunizations.

Avian Flu Outbreak and Vaccination Drill (Yolo County, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases

Goal: The purpose of the exercise was to train health and emergency medical personnel in planning for and responding to large scale disease outbreaks. The most proven method to assure an effective response to a real event is to practice a well-coordinated multi-agency field exercise.

AZTech Intelligent Transportation System (Maricopa County, AZ)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Transportation

Goal: The AZTech Executive Committee set the following objectives:

1. Integrate the existing Intelligent Transportation Infrastructure (ITI) into a regional system.
2. Establish a regional integrated traveler information system for the multi-modal travelers.
3. Demonstrate the benefits of integrated community-based transportation systems to achieve system efficiencies.
4. Provide a showcase of how technology can improve the overall quality of life, conserve energy and reduce pollution.
5. Set a worldwide standard of excellence for deployment of ITS in a major economy.

Babies Can't Wait (Georgia)

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

Goal: The goal of Babies Can't Wait is to guarantee access to early intervention services for infants and toddlers with special needs.

BabyFirst Solano (Solano, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Women, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: BabyFirst Solano aims to increase the number of women entering early, adequate prenatal care and improve birth outcomes for high-risk populations.

Baltimore Healthy Carryout Project (Baltimore, MD)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Teens, Adults, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of the Baltimore Healthy Carryout project was to increase healthy food options at carryout facilities and restaurants in Baltimore's low-income neighborhoods.

Impact: The BHC project reached 36.8% more customers during the intervention period than at baseline when comparing intervention carryouts to comparison carryouts. Customers reported purchasing specific foods due to the presence of a photo on the menu board (65.3%) or menu labeling (42.6%).

Bank On San Francisco (San Francisco)

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Poverty, Adults, Urban

Goal: The goal of Bank On San Francisco is to assist low-income San Franciscans in entering the financial mainstream by offering financial education, aide with opening bank accounts, and shaping helpful financial policies through partnerships with the San Francisco Treasurer's Office, local community organizations, and banks.

Banking on Our Future: Financial Literacy Education for Youth

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Investment & Personal Finance, Children

Goal: The mission of the Banking on Our Future (BOOF) program is to execute a global delivery system for financial education for youth ages 9-18 at no cost to school districts, with a focus on urban, under-served communities.

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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