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 Evidence-Based Practice, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children, Families, Urban
Goal: To prepare children of disadvantaged families for academic success and to strengthen families through intensive home visiting.
Impact: The Parent-Child Home Program builds school readiness, starting from the home. PCHP utilizes a non-directive, in-home modeling approach that encourages children's development, builds meaningful relationships between parents and children, and allows underserved families to access educational early-childhood services.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: Pasos Adelante is a lifestyle intervention that aims to prevent and control chronic disease such as heart disease and diabetes in Mexican Americans by providing a supporting environment for improving nutrition and increasing walking activity in U.S.-Mexico border communities.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Urban
Goal: The goal of the PATH Program is to improve knowledge of cardiovascular health and reduce risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Economy / Employment, Adults, Families
Goal: The goal of the PASS Program is to promote job retention and advancement among individuals leaving the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.
Impact: The PASS program did not meet the goal of having its participants retain their initial jobs. However, PASS did result in PASS participants being more likely to find new jobs (occasionally with higher earnings) after having lost or moved on from previous jobs.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens
Goal: PATCH envisions a supportive environment in which all adolescents are able to reach optimal health, safety, and economic security.
MISSION: To improve adolescent health and well being by engaging, educating, and empowering youth and adults as trusted partners in care.
Impact: Health care providers and teens who participate in the PATCH program show significant improvements in knowledge, self-efficacy, and behavioral intentions to seek and provide quality sexual health care.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality
Goal: To evaluate the impact of rideshare-based medical transportation on the proportion of Medicaid patients attending scheduled primary care appointments.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Economy, Rural
Goal: Medical-legal partnerships perform advocacy services for vulnerable and under-served populations. These populations are typically burdened disproportionately by legal and medical problems. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness and sustainability of a rural medical-legal partnership (MLP).
Impact: The rural medical-legal partnership continued to show social and financial impacts, such as health care recovery dollars (319% return on investment between 2007 and 2009), Social Security benefits, family law services, and end-of-life guidance.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Children's Health, Children, Families, Urban
Goal: To strengthen families of young children and the systems of care that surround them so that all children will be successful early learners and have the opportunity to thrive, regardless of their cultural, socioeconomic, physical, psychological, emotional health, or environmental challenges.
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children
Goal: 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
Goal: 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.”
Impact: 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.