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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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Trauma Center Intervention for Alcohol Disorders (Albuquerque, NM)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Adults

Goal: The goal of the Trauma Center Intervention for Alcohol Disorders is to reduce driving under the influence.

Tree Canada / Arbres Canada (Canada)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment, Children

Goal: The goal of the Greening Canada’s Schools Grounds Program is to replace schoolyard asphalt with vegetation in order to enhance its play, educational, ecological and aesthetic value for school children.

Tri-Agency Resource Gang Enforcement Team (Orange County, CA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Public Safety, Children, Urban

Goal: The goal of the TARGET program is to reduce gang crime by selectively incarcerating the most violent and repeat (recidivist) gang offenders (based on their criminal records).

Triple Play

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Teens

Goal: To improve members' physical health, increase their knowledge about healthy lifestyles, and improve their self-esteem and behavior.

Impact: Triple Play is currently available to some 4,000 Boys & Girls Clubs serving over 4.2 million youth. Since the program’s launch in 2005, Clubs across the country have seen encouraging lifestyle changes in their members.

Tuberculosis Control (Nassau County, NY)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of this program is to access individuals at high risk for developing TB disease and to provide therapy for LTBI in order to eliminate TB.

Twelve Together (San Diego)

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

Goal: The Twelve Together program seeks to help students stay in school and make academic progress.

Unite for Sight Eyeglass Drives

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality

Goal: The goal of this program is to provide eyeglasses to people in developing countries and to involve students in improving conditions in developing countries.

Urban Farming Education (West Oakland, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens, Adults, Older Adults, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: City Slicker Farms offers a range of educational programs through its Urban Farming Education initiative to enable individuals and communities to grow their own food.

Urban Youth Harvest (Oakland)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Civic Engagement, Teens, Older Adults, Urban

Goal: The program strives to provide jobs for young people and fresh produce for low-income seniors.

Utilization of Food Sample Results to Improve Food Safety (Maricopa County, AZ)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Food Safety

Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce the risk of foodborne illness for Maricopa County citizens and visitors by using food sample results to address complaints and increase the efficacy of routine inspections.

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.