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 Effective Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Children, Teens
Goal: The goal of this program is to decrease gang-related activity and to increase socially positive interactions for children and adolescents.
Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment, Children, Families
Goal: The Community Gardens Program aims to improve the health of the residents of San Antonio and the environment by creating community gardens, which provide a place for gathering, exercising, and learning, as well as preserving San Antonio’s green space.
Filed under Good Idea, Education / School Environment, Children, Urban
Goal: The goal of the program is to build sustainable, local, urban gardens, in order to deliver more reliable and better nutrition to today’s youth and urban communities.
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Children, Urban
Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce gang violence.
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Children, Teens, Urban
Goal: The primary goal of the GRP is to reduce youth gang crime and violence in targeted neighborhoods/communities by addressing the personal, family and community factors that contribute to juvenile delinquency and gang activity.
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Children, Urban
Goal: The objectives of the G.R.E.A.T program are to reduce gang activity, teach students about the negative consequences of gang involvement, and develop positive relations between students and law enforcement officials.
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Children, Teens, Urban
Goal: The goal of this program is to educate students about the dangers of gangs, discourage gang membership, educate parents about the signs of gang involvement, and provide families with resources to reduce gang activities in their homes and neighborhoods.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Wellness & Lifestyle, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban
Goal: Global Gardens aims to increase household access to affordable fresh vegetables among newly resettled refugee individuals living in the Historic Northeast of Kansas City, Missouri. Program participants are provided use of land, water, seeds, and plant starts at community gardening sites in the Lykins and Indian Mound neighborhoods, maintained by Global Gardens staff.
During the course of the program, growers receive ongoing education and support from staff and interpreters, reducing language and cultural barriers that have historically limited refugee access to community gardening engagement. The Global Gardens curriculum focuses on increasing refugee growers’ skills in community and household gardening, utilizing a garden-based learning theory of education, and implementing participatory, learner-centered assessment techniques. The curriculum empowers growers to take the lead in their learning experience and increase connection to and responsibility for their physical environment.
Additionally, Global Gardens aims to increase participant knowledge of how to access local community gardening resources in Kansas City. Each growing season, participants are connected to Kansas City Community Gardens (KCCG), a non-profit that seeks to assist low-income households to produce vegetables from garden plots in backyards and community sites. Global Gardens participants receive membership information and introduction to the seed and plant ordering process, and practice using this resource during the course of the program, building individual self-sufficiency in navigating the process, and increasing likelihood of utilizing KCCG in future.
Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Air
Goal: Reduce methane emissions from natural gas operations by identifying and promoting the implementation of mitigation technologies and management practices.
Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment, Urban
Goal: The Queens Botanical Garden, a living museum serving the most ethnically diverse county in the United States, is committed to presenting collections, education and research initiatives and programs that demonstrate environmental stewardship, promote sustainability and celebrate the rich cultural connections between people and plants.