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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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Boys and Girls Club Gang Prevention Through Targeted Outreach

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

Goal: The goal of this program is to decrease gang-related activity and to increase socially positive interactions for children and adolescents.

Boys Town (Omaha, NE)

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

Goal: The goal of this program is to provide abused, abandoned and neglected girls and boys with a safe, caring, loving environment where they gain confidence to get better and learn skills to become productive citizens.

Brainfood (Washington, D.C.)

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

Goal: The goal of Brainfood is to engage young people in healthy, creative cooking activities to build life skills and promote healthy living.

Breaking the Cycle (Hartford, CT)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Family Planning, Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of Breaking the Cycle is to prevent teen pregnancy in Hartford.

Breathe Better Campaign (USA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Respiratory Diseases, Adults, Women, Older Adults

Goal: To increase awareness, understanding, diagnosis and treatment options for people with COPD.

Brevard County Volunteer Dental Clinic (Brevard County, FL)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Oral Health

Goal: The goal of this program is to provide timely intervention and oral health service delivery to the stated population in order to reduce impact on local emergency departments and elevate the oral health care of Brevard's low-income citizens.

BRIDGE (Elyria, OH)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens

Goal: The goal of this program is to educate teen parents about pregnancy, birthing, and parenting.

Bridges . . . from school to work (Washington, D.C.)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Employment, Children

Goal: The Foundation's mission is to foster the employment of young people with disabilities.

Bridging the Gap: Youth Violence Reduction (Richmond)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Prevention & Safety, Children, Teens, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: To develop a useful, sustainable and replicable model designed to reduce the risk of re-injury and mortality in Richmond area youths who have been previously hospitalized with violence related injuries including gunshot wounds, stab wounds, and assault injuries.

Broader Urban Involvement and Leadership Development Program (BUILD) (Chicago, IL)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Children, Urban

Goal: BUILD's mission is to engage at-risk youth in the schools and on the streets, so they can realize their educational and career potential and contribute to the stability, safely and well being of your 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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