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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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Aiming High (Sonoma, CA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children

Goal: The goal of Aiming High is to increase the percentage of English learners scoring at or above proficient on California Standardized tests in language arts and math by three percentage points annually.

Air North Texas (Texas)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Air

Goal: The goal of the partnership is to offer the public a comprehensive air quality resource while promoting a consistent regional air quality message.

AirNow (USA)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Air

Goal: The goal of this website is to provide information on air quality including potential health effects of air pollutants.

Alaska's Homeless Assistance Program (HAP) (Alaska)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes

Goal: The mission of the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation is to provide Alaskans access to safe, quality, affordable housing.

Alaska’s Tobacco Quit Line (Alaska)

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

Goal: The goal of Alaska’s Tobacco Quit Line is to help Alaska residents quit smoking or using smokeless tobacco.

Albuquerque Victim's Offender Mediation Program (Albuquerque, NM)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Teens

Goal: The mission of this program is to provide services that allow both victims and offenders to participate in a process where both parties have a sense of restored wholeness in their lives and in their communities. This wholeness is manifested when parties are feeling a sense of safety and trust in their communities and in their relationships with self and others. It is the goal of this organization to provide a sense of justice that repairs the damage done and restores relationships, both personal and communal, to their original state to the extent possible.

Alcohol and Other Drug Death Review (Humboldt County, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use

Goal: The goal of this program is to involve community partners in reviewing individual deaths, generating recommendations for improved community collaboration, and initiating new practices.

Alive & Free Prescription

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Prevention & Safety, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of the Alive & Free Prescription is to keep youth unharmed by violence and free from incarceration, and to provide youth with the support and opportunities to build positive lives that contribute to society.

All Children Excel (ACE) (Ramsey County, MN)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children

Goal: The goal of this program is to prevent delinquency, substance abuse, and school dropout in high risk children.

All Kids (Illinois)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Children

Goal: The goal of this program is to make affordable health care a reality for hundreds of thousands of families across the state.

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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