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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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The National Center on Financing for Children with Special Health Care Needs

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Children

Goal: The purpose of this four year project is to work in support of the Maternal and Child Health Bureau to meet its Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) National Agenda performance outcome that “all families of CSHCN will have adequate private and/or public insurance to pay for the services they need.” The work of the cooperative agreement will be multi-faceted and will (1) overcome the gaps in knowledge about CSHCN’s health care use and charges, (2) assess the extent to which CSHCN are receiving the health care services they need and the degree to which reimbursement is adequate to meet those needs, (3) identify trends in and developing recommendations for financing strategies, and (4) disseminate this information to families, health care providers, public and private health plans, and policy makers.

The Pacific Hotel: Low-Income Housing (Seattle, WA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes, Urban

Goal: PHG works to eliminate homelessness and stabilize homeless and very low-income people in housing by preserving, developing and operating safe, decent, affordable housing, and by providing opportunities for homeless and very low-income people to improve their lives.

The Southern Maryland Tri-County Community Action Committee, Inc. (SMTCCAC) (Maryland)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes

Goal: The mission of this organization is to provide services for eligible citizens that alleviate the causes and conditions of poverty, promote upward mobility, and enrich the quality of life.

The Toolbox for Congestion Relief (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Transportation, Urban

Goal: The goals of the study was to assess the benefits of using multiple and systematic strategies to reduce traffic congestion in three metropolitan areas in the U.S.

The Wray Health Initiative (Wary, Colorado)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Rural

Goal: To improve health in the rural community of Wray Colorado by increasing the level of physical activities, conducting health assessments, and encouraging individual physical activity.

TJXtra!

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Government Assistance

Goal: The goal of this program is to raise awareness of available government benefits among employees, their families, and their friends.

Training for Intervention Procedures (TIPS) (USA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Adults

Goal: The goal of TIPS is to train alcohol providers to recognize and prevent over consumption of alcohol.

TransForm (Alameda)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Transportation, Adults, Families

Goal: TransForm aims to create world-class public transportation and walkable communities in the Bay Area and beyond.

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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