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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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Challenge Day / Be The Change (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Civic Engagement, Teens

Goal: To provide youth and their communities with experiential workshops and programs that demonstrate the possibility of love and connection through the celebration of diversity, truth and full expression.

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.

Champions for Children (Seattle, WA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Childcare & Early Childhood Education, Children

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve the quality of child care and education in Seattle.

Change the Future WV (West Virginia)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: Change The Future WV emphasizes improving access to healthy food options and safe environments for physical activity to create healthier communities in the Mid-Ohio Valley.

Impact: Change The Future WV has launched multiple community and school-based interventions to improve dietary behaviors and physical fitness in the Mid-Ohio Valley.

Charlotte Maxwell Complementary Clinic (Oakland and San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Alternative Medicine, Women, Urban

Goal: CMCC’s mission is to ensure more equitable access to the full range of evidence-based cancer treatments, programs and resources that could potentially benefit individuals diagnosed with cancer, allowing the women who come to our clinics to make informed choices about their health care and their lives.

Chemical Management Services (CMS) (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants

Goal: The goal of the Chemical Management Services model is to reduce chemical use and cost, and to reduce the environmental impact of chemical use.

Chicago Commons Employment Training Center (Chicago, IL)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Employment, Families, Urban

Goal: The mission of Chicago Commons is to help individuals, families and communities to overcome poverty, discrimination and isolation.

Chicago Fitness Plus (Chicago, IL)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults, Urban

Goal: The overall program goal is the maintenance of a physically active lifestyle, in order to optimize one's functional capacity and ability to perform daily activities. In order to achieve this goal, the following impact objectives were established:

- Enhance enjoyment and participation in a variety of physical activities
- Develop and enhance the skills, knowledge, and self-efficacy needed to
establish and maintain an active lifestyle
- Ensure the affordability and accessibility of the program

Child Advocacy Center (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Children's Health, Children, Families, Urban

Goal: The goal of the program is to offer comprehensive child abuse prevention and intervention as well as health care services in a single setting.

Child Day Care Facility Siting Review (Nassau, NY)

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.

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.