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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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Kosher Meals for the Homebound (New York, NY)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Older Adults

Goal: Kosher Meals for the Homebound is a program of Dorot, which alleviates social isolation among the elderly and provides services to help them live independently as valued members of the community.

La Posada Hotel (Winslow, Arizona)

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Economic Climate

Goal: The goal of the restoration of La Posada Hotel was to preserve and restore the hotel as a historic landmark, and to reinvigorate the economy of Winslow, Arizona.

Lancaster County School-Community Tobacco Prevention Program (Lincoln-Lancaster County, NE)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Children, Adults

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce public and worker exposure to secondhand smoke and to prevent youth initiation of tobacco.

Land Value Taxation (Pennsylvania)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Economic Climate

Goal: The goal of the split-rate property tax is to encourage urban renewal and discourage land speculation.

Latino Commission on AIDS (New York City, NY)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The Latino Commission on AIDS focuses its efforts on HIV/AIDS in the Latino community through health advocacy, promoting HIV education, developing model prevention programs for high-risk communities, and building capacity in community organization.

Impact: As the only provider of Spanish language HIV treatment, the Latino Commission on AIDS has created a model of public health that uses training, outreach, prevention and culturally sensitive care for Latinos living with HIV/AIDS.

Latinos Using Cardio Health Action to Reduce Risk (LUCHAR) (Denver)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to promote healthy behaviors, including physical activity and health eating, among Latinos.

Lawndale Health Promotion Project (Chicago, IL)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Diabetes, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of the Lawndale Health Promotion Project was to eliminate health disparities in type 2 diabetes and heart disease among Hispanics and African Americans.

Learn To Be ... Tobacco Free (Suffolk County, NY)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use

Goal: The goals of this program are to prevent the next generation from becoming addicted to nicotine, to help those addicted to quit, and to reduce exposure to environmental tobacco smoke for all residents.

Let Each One Teach One (Denver, CO)

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

Goal: The program aims to enhance the protective factors of academic performance, attachment and commitment to school, consistent enforcement of rules regarding behavior, and attachment to prosocial role models.

Let's Talk…It Makes a Difference! (Cambridge, MA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Children's Health, Families

Goal: The objectives of the campaign are (1) to educate parents about the importance of talking with their children and (2) to model techniques parents can use to have rich and elaborate conversations with their children.

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.