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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.

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Higher Achievement Program (Washington, DC, Alexandria, VA and Baltimore, MD)

Filed under Good Idea, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children, Teens, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The mission of HAP is to assist middle school students in underserved areas with improving their grades, school attendance, test scores, and access to learning opportunities, leading to admission into top high schools in the Washington, DC area.

Hip-Hop to Health Jr (Chicago)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of Hip-Hop to Health Jr is to reduce gains in BMI in preschool minority children.

HIRED (Minneapolis, MN)

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Employment, Teens, Adults, Urban

Goal: HIRED's mission is to provide personalized and innovative work solutions.

HIV Big Deal (New York City)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Adults

Goal: HIV Big Deal seeks to promote safer sex practices among men who have sex with men via internet-based video drama.

HIV Performance Improvement Program (Suffolk County, NY)

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

Goal: The program's objectives are to perform systematic and objective monitoring and evaluation of the quality and appropriateness of care and pursuit of opportunities to improve care and resolve problems as they are identified.

HIV Wisdom for Older Women (Kansas City, KS)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Women, Older Adults

Goal: HIV Wisdom for Older Women is dedicated to the prevention of HIV in older women and to life enrichment for those who are infected.

HOMEBUILDERS

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Social Environment, Children, Families

Goal: The goal of this program is to prevent the unnecessary out-of-home placement of children through intensive, on-site intervention, and to teach families new problem-solving skills to prevent future crises.

Homecoming Services Program (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults, Urban

Goal: The program’s mission is to serve San Francisco’s isolated seniors 60 and older in making the transition from hospital to home.

Homeless Families Program (Los Angeles, CA)

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

Goal: The mission of Beyond Shelter is to develop systemic approaches to combat poverty and homelessness among families with children and enhance family economic security and well-being.

Homeless Prenatal Program (San Francisco)

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

Goal: The Homeless Prenatal Program works with families to break the cycle of homelessness and poverty by providing prenatal and parenting support, family finances and stability, and basic needs services.

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.