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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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On-Call Services for Domestic Violence Survivors (Washtenaw County, MI)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Domestic Violence & Abuse, Families

Goal: The goal of the On-Call Services program is to provide information about domestic violence and the legal system to survivors of abuse. The program also offers legal advocacy for court hearings and meetings with the police, prosecutor, and other involved attorneys, probation, and others.

Open Circle Curriculum

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / School Environment, Children

Goal: This program has three goals: (1) to strengthen students' social competency skills in communication, self-control, and interpersonal problem-solving; (2) to promote the creation of growth-fostering relationships among students and between students and the adults in their lives; and (3) to build a sense of community in classrooms and schools by providing a common "language" that fosters communication among students and between students and their teachers and other adults.

Operation Ceasefire (Boston, MA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Children, Urban

Goal: The goals of the program are to carry out a comprehensive strategy to apprehend and prosecute offenders who carry firearms, to put others on notice that offenders face certain and serious punishment for carrying illegal firearms, and to prevent youths from following the same criminal path.

Oregon Tobacco Prevention and Education Program (Oregon)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens, Adults

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce tobacco use in Oregon.

Outdoor Air Quality Flag Program (San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Air, Children

Goal: The program aims to accomplish two things in Central California: (1) permanently change local policy with respect to existing operating procedures in school districts and schools to help reduce exposure of students, teachers, staff and nearly communities to outdoor environmental asthma triggers ;and (2) provide education on air quality and potential health effects from exposure to air pollutants.

Parent to Parent Program (Marin, Napa, Solano and Sonoma, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Disabilities, Children, Families

Goal: The program's mission is to empower families of children with special needs to understand and access the systems that serve them.

Parenting a Second Time Around (PASTA) (USA)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Social Environment, Older Adults

Goal: The goal of Parenting the Second Time Around (PASTA) is to train facilitators to lead workshops on childcare for grandparent/caregiver relatives.

Partners Clinic (St Lucie County, FL)

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

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve access to health care for uninsured and underinsured adults.

Partners in Healing (Merced County, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of the Partners in Healing Program is to improve health care and access to health services among Hmong refugees.

Partnership for Permanent Housing (Montgomery County, MD)

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Housing & Homes

Goal: The goal of this program is to end homelessness for families by combining the case management component of transitional programs with quicker access to permanent housing.

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.