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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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I Have a Dream

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.

Incorporating HIV Services into Tuberculosis Contact Investigations (New York)

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

Goal: The goal of this program is to provide HIV testing and services to individuals involved in tuberculosis contact investigations.

Increasing Screening Colonoscopy in an Urban Public Hospital (New York, NY)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Cancer, Adults, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to increase access to colorectal cancer screening by improving the efficiency in health care clinics.

Independent Transportation Network (Portland, ME)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults

Goal: The mission of this program is to provide a community-based, and community supported, economically viable and consumer-oriented, quality transportation service for seniors.

Infant Health and Development Program

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Children

Goal: The goal of this program was to reduce health and developmental problems for low-birth-weight and premature infants.

iWalk (Sonoma)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens, Adults, Families

Goal: The goal of iWalk is to encourage and support regular walking and exercise among Sonoma county residents.

Jamaica Service Program for Older Adults (Jamaica, NY)

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

Goal: The Jamaica Service Program for Older Adults mission is "a total community working together to provide services to, and develop skills in, older adults in order to promote independence and enhance their quality of life."

Just Food (New York, NY)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Built Environment, Urban

Goal: The goal of Just Food is to build a more just food system in which family farmers make a fair profit for their efforts, and all people have access to affordable, healthy food. Just Food envisions a strong regional food system -- incorporating a diversity of rural farms and a robust urban farming component -- that preserves ecosystems, reduces pollution, promotes social justice, provides education about the environment, and invigorates rural and urban economies.

Keep It Up (New York, NY)

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

Goal: The goal of Keep It Up is to provide health screening and preventative care to Black men to promote HIV prevention and other health problems.

KidzLit and KidzMath (USA)

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

Goal: These programs aim to improve both academic and interpersonal skills in elementary school aged 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.

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