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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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Safe Walk to School (Oakland, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Public Safety, Children, Families

Goal: Safe Walk to School's goal is to keep children walking to school safe.

Safer Homes Project (Pacoima)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants, Children, Teens, Adults

Goal: The mission of the Safer Homes Program is to help residents to create healthy comes for their families in order to prevent environmentally related health problems such as lead poisoning, asthma, mold, and moisture.

Schools of Hope (Sonoma, CA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Literacy, Children

Goal: Schools of Hope aims to increase third-grade reading proficiency to 75% by 2015 and 90% by 2020.

Impact: Students tutored through Schools of Hope have an increased reading proficiency compared to other students.

Schools on Train Safety Program (Washington)

Filed under Good Idea, Education / School Environment, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of this program is to introduce teachers, students, and chaperones to rail and train safety, the environment, and train travel. This program targets all students from kindergarten through high school.

See You in School (Whatcom, WA)

Filed under Good Idea, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of See You in School is to improve the grades, self confidence and engagement of high school students through mentor/mentee relationships. Decreasing the dropout rates in Whatcom County is a long term goal that begins with the mentor/mentee relationship and a network inside the schools.

Senior Corps (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Civic Engagement, Older Adults

Goal: The goal of this program is to match seniors with volunteer opportunities.

Senior Peer Counseling Program (Salem, OR)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults

Goal: The mentoring process is designed to help clients work through feelings and emotions, to recognize strengths and coping skills, and to redirect life toward greater meaning and purpose.

Seniors Preparing for Rainbow Years (SPRY) (Houston, TX)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults

Goal: The Seniors Preparing for Rainbow Years program was established to enhance the lives of LGBT persons age 60 and older.

Serving Our Seniors (Erie, OH)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults

Goal: The goal of Serving Our Seniors is to help senior citizens live independently in their homes.

Setting up a Kids Voting Program to Increase Civic Participation (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Civic Engagement, Children

Goal: The goal of Kids Voting USA is to foster civic awareness at an early age to deal with the problems of voter apathy and nonparticipation.

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.