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, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Children, Adults
Goal: By partnering with key community stakeholders, the Charleston Dorchester Mental Health Center is committed to providing accessible, affordable, quality mental health services to residents of Charleston and Dorchester counties.
Impact: Charleston Dorchester Mental Health Center Partnerships has resulted in increased hospital and emergency services diversion, increased children tenure in communities and schools, and provided essential mental health services to improve the overall quality of life for residents of the community.
Filed under Good Idea, Education / Educational Attainment, Children, Teens
Goal: The goal of Check & Connect is to encourage middle and high school students to stay on track towards graduation. Check & Connect seeks to foster student engagement at school and with learning. In Check & Connect, engagement is defined as commitment to and investment in learning, as well as identification with and belonging at school. Engagement is associated with desired academic, behavioral, cognitive, and affective outcomes, such as persisting in school and graduating.
Impact: Students who participate in Check & Connect are significantly more likely to stay in high school than similar peers who did not receive the intervention (24%). Students who participate in Check & Connect are significantly more likely to complete high school than peers who did not receive the intervention (20%).
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children, Teens
Goal: The goal of Check and Connect is to encourage middle and high school students to stay in school.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Public Safety, Teens
Goal: The goal of the Checkpoints Program is to encourage parental limits on teen driving, and decrease risky teen driving.
Impact: The Checkpoints Program increased the rate at which parents placed greater limits on high-risk teen driving conditions and decreased traffic violations among teens.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Children's Health, Children
Goal: The goal of this program is to ensure the health and safety of children attending day care facilities and the staff who care for them.
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children
Goal: The central goal of CDP is to help schools become "caring communities of learners" by offering an environment of caring, supportive, and collaborative relationships to build students' sense of community in school and to promote school bonding.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Domestic Violence & Abuse, Children, Families, Urban
Goal: The goal of the Child Development-Community Policing Program (CDCP) is to reduce the negative consequences of exposure to violent and potentially traumatic events among children and their families.
Impact: The CDCP Program shows that through community policing efforts, it is possible to successfully intervene early in an attempt to ameliorate the effects of children's exposure to violence.
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children, Urban
Goal: The goals of this program are to provide a stable learning environment that will promote scholastic development, to enhance parent-child relationships, and to prevent delinquency.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Teens
Goal: The goal of CHOPPS is to prevent childhood obesity by reducing the consumption of carbonated drinks among adolescents aged 7-11 through the implementation of an educational program.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children
Goal: The goals of this program are to identify children at risk for chronic lead poisoning, to decrease blood lead levels in chronically poisoned children, and to help families find stable, lead-free housing.