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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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Public Health and Mental Health: A Model for Success (Jefferson County, CO)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders

Goal: The goals of this program are:

-To provide staff with consultation, clinical support, education and training.
-To provide clients with initial assessment, brief counseling, and access/referral to mental health resources.

Public Health Communications Response to the Influenza Vaccine Shortage (Pinellas County, FL)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Governance, Older Adults, Families

Goal: The goal was to provide flu vaccine to those most at risk while minimizing public alarm and gaining acceptance by employees that the traditionally free flu vaccine would not be available.

Seven Principles Project - San Francisco (San Francisco)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Teens, Adults, Women, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goals of the SevenPrinciples Project, funded by the CDC's REACH 2010 Initiative, are to: eliminate disparities in infant mortality rates; improve African American infant survival; and improve the health of families and communities with infants through developing community capacity.

The F.U.N. Initiative (Garfield, NJ)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Education / School Environment

Goal: The overall mission of this initiative is to develop an active, healthy community. Goals of this initiative include increasing the number of children walking or biking to school, and developing opportunities for Garfield's children and families to be more physically active and eat more healthily.

The Food Safety Tool Box (Columbus, OH)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Food Safety, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce the risk of foodborne illness outbreaks by educating licensed operators and food employees of proper food safety procedures.

Wisconsin Adolescent Health Care Communication Program

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens

Goal: The Wisconsin Adolescent Health Care Communication Program (WAHCCP) seeks to improve communication between providers and adolescent patients, and therefore improve the delivery of sexual and reproductive health care to young people in Wisconsin.

Impact: The Wisconsin Adolescent Health Care Communication Program bridges the communication gap between adolescents and their health care providers through two workshops resulting in increasing knowledge, self-efficacy, and behavioral intentions among participants.

Work Central Project (North Carolina)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Employment, Adults

Goal: The goals of this program are:

1. Re-Employment: They create job search plans, develop job readiness strategies, and emphasize family maintenance. This goal recognizes a noticeable number of first jobs do not last; therefore, Work Central prevents the re-spending of taxpayer dollars already spent once.

2. Job Retention: They review support systems, promote problem solving, and support longevity on the job. This goal is measured in 6 and 12 month benchmarks.

3. Career Advancement: They introduce customers to career paths, explore training opportunities, and pursue educational plans.

4. Asset Accumulation: They connect customers to checking and savings account resources, inform customers about financial counseling, and educate customers about home ownership opportunities. Work Central replaces homeless with hope so people will believe that tomorrow will be better than their today.

New York Avenue Metro Station Corporation (Washington, DC)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Transportation, Urban

Goal: The key objective of the initiative was to promote sustainable, transit-oriented, mixed-use economic and community development that would promote investment, create jobs, attract and expand businesses, raise incomes, reduce poverty, stabilize and improve housing and neighbourhoods. The main strategy was to develop three key industry networks: media/publications, information technology/telecommunications and the entertainment industry in the NoMa area.

Transforming Neighborhoods Together (TNT) (Knoxville, TN)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Social Environment, Urban

Goal: TNT's goals are to create an active group of neighborhood leaders, committed to developing a long-term vision for their neighborhoods; to establish a process for resident input and consensus; to develop a comprehensive body of knowledge about the neighborhoods; and to develop written action plans for achieving the vision, which may include goals for investment in and development of the neighborhoods.

Explore (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Adults

Goal: The goal of the Explore study is to prevent HIV infection among HIV-negative men who have sex with men.

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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