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.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Families, Urban
Goal: The goal of the program is to teach parents/caregivers effective parenting skills, create a support system for their children, and equip participants with non-violent techniques to encourage a safe environment at home and in the community.
Impact: ACT program has been shown to prevent child maltreatment and promote positive parenting skills, including reducing physical violence towards children, improving knowledge of appropriate discipline, and improving parent methods for teaching children nonviolent social skills.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens
Goal: The goal of All Stars programs is to prevent alcohol, tobacco and drug use, postpone sexual activity, and reduce fighting and bullying among adolescents.
Impact: When teachers implemented the program, there were significant reductions in the use of alcohol, cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, and inhalants. The program also had a significant effect in changing normative beliefs, lifestyle incongruence, commitment to school, impulsive decision-making, and sensation-seeking behavior.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens, Adults, Women, Men, Older Adults, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban
Goal: The goal of Assessment and Referral is to help individuals struggling with a substance use disorder evaluate their needs and strengths and begin to make healthy choices that improve the overall quality of their lives.
Impact: First Call provided over 1,700 assessments in 2013, and more than half of clients showed improvements in their Addiction Severity Index (ASI) scores or a decrease in substance use.
Association of Rideshare-Based Transportation Services and Missed Primary Care Appointments: A Clinical Trial (Philadelphia)
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Urban
Goal: The goal of the clinical trial was to evaluate the association between rideshare-based medical transportation and missed primary care appointments among Medicaid patients.
Impact: Although the uptake of ridesharing was low and did not decrease missed primary care appointments for this particular clinical trial, future studies trying to reduce missed appointments can explore alternative delivery models or target populations with stronger transportation needs.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens, Adults, Families, Urban
Goal: Atlanta Streets Alive seeks to shift the current car-centric dynamic and replace it with a proactive community that comes together on a regular basis to participate in active transportation, physical activity, cultural and artistic endeavors, and to enjoy our neighborhoods and communities from a different perspective-from the street.
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children, Families, Rural
Goal: The BEE Program seeks to strengthen parents' abilities to provide the physical and emotional support necessary for children's healthy growth and development by giving them otherwise unavailable access to parenting and early childhood education.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Adults, Women, Men, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: To partner within communities and organizations to train professionals, community and parent leaders so the “Best Start” program can reach and support all families, but especially marginalized or struggling families and communities; to build the strong family/home, school and community environments that are necessary to support positive mental health, confidence, resilience and hope to achieve health equity, academic and economic opportunities for positive futures for all.
The Changing Children’s Worlds Foundation (CCWF) mission is for every child and adolescent to be supported in positive development by caregivers and professionals within loving, non-violent families and peaceful communities. Through parent groups and educational workshops we strive to promote a sense of community and foster empathy.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults, Urban
Goal: The goal of Bingocize is to improve mobility, balance, and ADL's in older adult populations.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health
Goal: The goal of Birth and Beyond California is to provide effective, evidence-based breastfeeding support to all mothers delivering babies in hospitals in California in order to increase the percentage of mothers who are able to breastfeed exclusively starting at birth.
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.