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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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Richland County Community Diabetes Project (Richland County, MT)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Diabetes, Rural

Goal: The goal of this project is to build community support for persons with Type 2 diabetes living in frontier Eastern Montana.

Right Stuff About Renting (RSAR) (Bethlehem, PA)

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Housing & Homes

Goal: The Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley is commited to improve the quality of life in the Lehigh Valley by building a community in which all people have access to economic opportunities, the ability to pursue those opportunities, and a voice in the decisions that affect their lives.

Ripple Effects Whole Spectrum Intervention System (Ripple Effects) (USA and Canada)

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

Goal: The goal of Ripple Effects is to use technology to prevent social injury and promote school and life success for children and teenagers.

Riverside County Greater Avenues for Independence Program (GAIN) Program (Riverside County, CA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Social Environment

Goal: The mission of the program is to work vigorously to free participants from the burden of welfare dependency, and achieve a better, happier lifestyle through self-sufficiency. It will serve the taxpayers of Riverside County by reducing welfare dependency, thus making tax dollars available for other expenditures and needs.

Impact: The program produced a large net savings to the government through increased tax revenues and reduced welfare and food stamps payments (as an estimate, $2.84 saved for every $1.00 invested over five years).

Rock and Wrap It Up! (USA)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Civic Engagement

Goal: The goal of Rock and Wrap It Up! is to collect leftover food from large events and donate it to local agencies.

Rocky View Schools Healthy Eating Initiative (Canada)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of the Rocky View Schools Healthy Eating Initiative is to implement healthy eating guidelines that will change the school food environment, thereby supporting students in making healthy food choices.

Roots of Empathy (Canada)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Social Environment, Children

Goal: The program has five main goals: foster the development of empathy; develop emotional literacy; reduce levels of bullying, aggression and violence, and promote children's pro-social behaviors; increase knowledge of human development, learning, and infant safety; and prepare students for responsible citizenship and responsive parenting.

Routz (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Urban

Goal: To provide housing to homeless youth aged 18 to 24 and provide comprehensive behavioral health services.

Rum River Bicycle Classic (Isanti County, MN)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity

Goal: The mission of this project is to provide leadership in promoting environments that offer choices for Active Living.

Rural Educational Achievement Project (Christian County, KY)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / School Environment, Children, Families, Rural

Goal: The goal of this program is to promote healthy mental and social development and academic success.

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.