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 / Heart Disease & Stroke
Impact: The Community Preventive Services Task Force (CPSTF) recommends the use of interactive digital interventions to improve blood pressure control in patients with high blood pressure.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke, Adults
Goal: The goal of the Heart to Heart program is to reduce risk factors of cardiovascular disease.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education / Literacy, Children, Urban
Goal: The goal of HELPS Programs is to strengthen students’ reading fluency so they will be better able to focus on and improve other important reading skills, including comprehension.
Impact: HELPS is a supplemental curriculum that improves students reading fluency, a commonly neglected aspect of children's core reading curriculum, in order to help them become successful readers.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The goal of Hip-Hop to Health Jr is to reduce gains in BMI in preschool minority children.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Urban
Goal: The goals of the Holistic Health Recovery Program are to promote health and improve quality of life of injection drug users.
Impact: Implementation of the program resulted in a decrease in addition severity, a decrease in risk behavior, and significant improvement in behavioral skills and quality of life.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The goal of the HORIZONS program is to reduce sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), particularly HIV, by increasing condom use and partner communication about safer sex.
Impact: The HORIZONS program empowered African American female adolescents to pursue safer sex and reduced the number of STDs among those in the program.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban
Goal: The goal of the Hospital Diversion Initiative is to connect individuals who chronically utilize the inpatient and emergency rooms with outpatient care.
Impact: After three months in the program, participants showed a 66% reduction in ER visits, 68% reduction in inpatient hospital stays, a 72% decrease in homelessness, an 18% reduction in unemployment, and a 66% decrease in past 30 day arrests. More than 350 individuals have been served so far.
Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Employment, Women, Men, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban
Goal: Hot Bread Kitchen's mission is to increase economic security for foreign-born, low-income women and men by helping them gain access to the thriving specialty food industry.
Impact: Hot Bread Kitchen trains low-income, immigrant men and women for successful professional baking careers.
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children
Goal: The "I Have a Dream"® Program helps children from low-income areas reach their education and career goals by providing a long-term program of mentoring, tutoring, and enrichment with an assured opportunity for higher education.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban
Goal: The goal of this intervention was to increase HIV preventative behavior among inner-city minority adolescents.
Impact: Students in the classroom-based intervention group had more sustained changes in HIV prevention behavior over time compared to those in the peer-based intervention groups.