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.
Home Again: A Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness in Portland and Multnomah County (Portland and Multnomah County, OR)
Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes, Urban
The goal of this program is to end homelessness in the City of Portland and Multnomah County by 2015. As efforts to end homelessness continue, city and county officials will focus on nine actions. Programs throughout the county will address moving people into Housing First, ending the practice of discharging people into homelessness from jails and hospitals, improving outreach, emphasizing permanent solutions, increasing the housing supply, creating new partnerships, improving the rent assistance system, increasing economic opportunity for homeless people and implementing new data collection technology.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Children's Health, Children
The goal of this program is to reduce the impact of lead poisoning and to prevent new cases of lead poisoning among Niagara County children.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Health Care Access & Quality
Project Access Durham County seeks to provide comprehensive healthcare to low-income, uninsured individuals residing in the county for at least six months.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Rural
The goal of Steps to a Healthier Yuma County is to prevent obesity and diabetes in young children.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Health Care Access & Quality
The goal of this program is to provide health care access to uninsured, low income residents of Anne Arundel County.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Respiratory Diseases, Children, Families
The goals of the Seattle-King Healthy Homes project are: to increase knowledge of home environmental health threats and asthma self-management among households with a child who suffers from asthma; help households reduce environmental threats in the household; improve health status and reduce asthma-related medical care utilization.
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children
The McLean County program's mission is "to offer young people a once in a lifetime opportunity to build their futures and their communities through education, leadership development, job training, and the rehabilitation and production of affordable housing, while keeping a profound respect for and a commitment to real partnership with youth."
Addressing the Social Determinants of Health through the Alameda County, California, Place Matters Policy Initiative (Alameda County, CA)
Filed under Good Idea, Health, Urban
The goal of the Place Matters initiative is to improve the health of participating communities by “addressing social conditions that lead to poor health” through “identifying the complex root causes of health disparities and defining strategies to address them.”
AC Place Matters has identified 10 best practices that could help other programs address social determinants of health: find and foster strong leadership, dedicate staff resources to the work, engage staff from across the local health department, contribute to building grassroots power, address root causes, partner with community organizations and leaders, partner with government institutions across sectors, work reactively and proactively, build capacity, and use tools that ensure a focus on health equity.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Adults, Families
The goal of the AIDS Insurance Continuation Program is to provide low-income Floridians living with HIV/AIDS with continuous private health insurance coverage.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders
To have an EMR system that allows medical professionals to correctly diagnose and address the medical needs of incarcerated patients in the emergency room or in the prison system.
The program has allowed for greater accessibility and sharing of medical data.