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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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Campaign for Working Families (Philadelphia, PA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Investment & Personal Finance

Goal: The goal of this campaign is to help families close the gap between their income and their expenses, and develop financial assets by connecting them to advice about non-predatory, quality financial services, savings options, wealth building resources, credit building, and public benefits.

Car Heaven (Canada)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Air, Adults

Goal: The Car Heaven program aims to help Canadians reduce their personal impact on the environment by providing car retirement services for their old, higher-polluting vehicles.

Career Pathways (Seattle-King County, WA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Employment

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve retention of hospital employees to address critical shortages in health care staffing.

Career Skills Mentoring Program (Palm Beach and Martin, FL)

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

Goal: The goal of the program is to provide at-risk youth with mentorship and employment skills.

Carolinas Cancer Education and Screening (CARES) Project (North Carolina & South Carolina)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Cancer, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of this project is to improve colorectal cancer screening awareness among low-income women traditionally underserved by cancer control efforts.

CDC Communities Putting Prevention to Work: King County, WA (King County, WA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens

Goal: The King County Communities Putting Prevention to Work initiative goals are to reduce obesity and tobacco use.

Impact: Communities Putting Prevention to Work in King County is associated with reducing obesity prevalence among students in participating school districts and has made substantial progress towards decreasing tobacco use.

CDC WiseWoman Demonstration Program (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Other Conditions, Women

Goal: The goal of this program is to provide low-income, under- or uninsured women with the knowledge and skills to prevent and control heart disease and other chronic diseases.

Center in the Square (Roanoke, VA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Art & Recreation / Libraries & Museums

Goal: The goal of this project was to create a regional cultural center that would provide rent-free housing, security, building maintenance, and housekeeping for several struggling museums and live theater.

Cervical Cancer Screening and Follow-up (Brevard County, FL)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Women's Health, Women

Goal: The goal of this program is to provide timely, effective, clinically appropriate intervention for abnormal Pap tests at no or very-low cost in order to reduce cervical cancer mortality.

Challenging College Alcohol Abuse (Tucson, AZ)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Children, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce the negative impact of alcohol abuse on campus life by correcting students' perceptions about alcohol use and by making the campus less conducive to drinking.

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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