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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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Wheaton/Warrenville Early Childhood Collaborative (DuPage County, IL)

Local

Filed under Local, Good Idea, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The mission of the Wheaton/Warrenville Early Childhood Collaborative is to effectively coordinate services focused on providing opportunities for learning success and improved Kindergarten readiness for all Community Unit School District 200 children birth to five, especially those most vulnerable.

The 4 goals of the WWECC are:
1. Improve communication among early childhood service providers though implementation of collaborative partner and sub-committee meetings.
2. Increase parent education about childhood development needs.
3. Increase professional development for early childhood service providers.
4. Increase children's Kindergarten/school readiness.

Impact: This targeted program can have a strong impact, as research shows that 85% of brain development occurs by age 5 and that high-quality early care and education experiences lead to lower drop-out rates, lower rates of becoming a teen parent, and lower rates of participation in special education.

Engage DuPage (DuPage County, IL)

Local

Filed under Local, Good Idea, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Children, Adults, Families, Urban

Goal: The goals of Engage DuPage include improving the health status of self-pay Emergency Department patients, increasing the revenue appropriately owed to hospitals for services rendered, improving the financial assistance processes involving self-pay Emergency Department patients, and reducing the number of avoidable Emergency Department visits among self-pay patients.

Impact: By the end of 2014, 57% of all benefit applications that were submitted were approved. In addition, 29% of all interested patients were connected to a primary care provider through a Community Access Specialist.

Mailed Psychoeducational Intervention for Colorectal Cancer Screening (England)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Cancer, Adults

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve colorectal cancer screening rates among older adults.

Impact: Participants in the intervention group had significantly higher colorectal cancer screening attendance, as well as having more positive attitudes about screening and placing a higher priority on screening.

Indianapolis Restorative Justice Project (Indianapolis, IN)

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

Goal: The goal of this program is to divert young first-time offenders from court into a restorative justice process in which the offender and victim negotiate a satisfactory solution.

The Hundred Year Association of New York Municipal Awards Program (New York, NY)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Educational Attainment

Goal: The goal of this program is to recognize and reward outstanding public service, academic excellence, and community service.

Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach (A-CRA) and Assertive Continuing Care (ACC) (Illinois)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens

Goal: The goal of the Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach is to help adolescents recover from alcohol and drug addiction.

Impact: Results from studies on this treatment program demonstrate that there can be superior engagement, retention, and short-term substance use outcomes for those in the A-CRA and ACC approaches compared to UCC. The ACC protocol can also result in significantly more patients linking to continuing care.

Pathways to Housing, Inc. (NYC, DC, Philadelphia)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes, Adults, Urban

Goal: The goal of Pathways to Housing, Inc. is to provide independent housing, treatment services for physical and mental health, and employment to mentally ill individuals who are chronically homeless.

Impact: Pathways to Housing has received numerous awards for its projects in New York City, Philadelphia, and D.C. In addition to achieving large effects in terms of housing outcomes, compared with standard care in the community, Housing First also improves community functioning and quality of life.

Vestey Center (Superior, NE)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Community & Business Resources, Older Adults

Goal: The goal of the Vestey Center is to provide vital services and resources to the elderly of Superior, Nebraska and serve as a community center for the larger community.

Multidimensional Family Therapy (MDFT)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens, Families

Goal: The goal of MDFT is to reduce adolescent drug abuse and increase self-efficacy in the teen population.

Impact: Systematic reviews comparing the effective of adolescent drug use interventions across studies found that MDFT reduces substance use, delinquency, behavior problems, and symptoms of anxiety and depression. The program has also been found to improve educational performance.

Aggression Replacement Training® (ART® ) (Scotia, NY)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of ART® is to improve social skill competence, anger control, and moral reasoning.

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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