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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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Bayview HEAL Zone (Bayview Hunters Point, San Francisco)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Diabetes, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of the program is to reduce chronic disease health disparities by making the healthy choice the easy choice.

Impact: The Bayview HEAL Zone has brought together a variety of organizations and supported healthy eating and active living projects in the community.

Bayview Safe Haven (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Social Environment, Children, Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: To provide academic, vocational, recreational and life skills for at risk youth ages 12-21 in the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood of San Francisco.

Be Food Safe (USA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Food Safety, Children, Teens, Adults, Families

Goal: The goal of Be Food Safe is to reduce the incidence of foodborne illness by instructing consumers in proper procedures for handling and preparing food.

Be Proud! Be Responsible! (Philadelphia, PA and Trenton, NJ)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Teens, Urban

Goal: The curricula aim to increase participants' knowledge about the risks of various behaviors and educate participants on how condoms and/or abstinence can effectively be used to lower those risks.

Be Smart & Seal Them! (Washington)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Oral Health

Goal: The goal of the Be Smart & Seal Them! program is to provide dental sealants proven to prevent tooth decay to second grade students.

Beginning Education Early: Strengthening Rural Alabama Families (Choctaw County, AL)

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.

Behavioral Intervention Program to Increase Condom Use

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Women, Urban

Goal: The Behavioral Intervention Program seeks to increase condom use by females who are at high risk of pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, or reinfection.

Ben Schroeder Saddletree Factory Restoration (Madison, IN)

Filed under Good Idea, Art & Recreation / Libraries & Museums, Families, Rural

Goal: The preservation and restoration of the Ben Schroeder Saddletree Factory aims to contribute to the overall economic and cultural development of the community.

Best Workplaces for Commuters (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Air

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce the environmental impact of commuting and to help get employees to work safely, on time, and free of commute-related stress.

Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School (Upton, MA)

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

Goal: The school's philosophy is "to provide the individual student with the academic and vocational/technical skills essential to achieve success in a productive career as well as to provide the global community with a highly qualified and prepared workforce."

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.