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, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
The goal of this program is to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease among African American families with a history of coronary disease.
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Transportation
The goal of this program is to provide affordable, reliable, and flexible transportation to low-income residents of Burlington.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Urban
Compassionate Healthcare seeks to provide affordable, accessible, and quality healthcare to the homeless and poor, offering a full range of traditional health care services, as well as HIV/AIDS, diabetes, mental health, substance abuse, and non-Western medicine services.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Children's Health, Children, Families
The Congenital Heart Disease Screening Program values early diagnosis of Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) with a goal of making screening for CHD a standard practice for all newborns.
The physicians at Children's National in the National Heart Institute created a toolkit that nurseries may use to start a screening program to improve detection of serious CHD.
Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Employment, Children
The goal of this program is to give students the academic, technical/technological and employability skills necessary to compete in higher education and high performance workplaces.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Families, Urban
CLOCC's mission is to confront the childhood obesity epidemic by promoting healthy and active lifestyles for children throughout the Chicago metropolitan area.
The Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children brings together researchers, public health advocates and practitioners, and the children, families, and communities of Chicagoland to prevent childhood obesity.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children
The goal of this program is to improve the safety of child care centers in Idaho by making sure that recalled products are removed.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Families
Cook for Kids aims to improve nutrition at school, home, and restaurants by showcasing innovative school nutrition programs, healthful foods, and cooking techniques.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Teens
The goal of cooperative learning is to establish positive interdependence among students. When positive interdependence is established in group learning situations, the quality of peer interaction improves. Instead of competing with or ignoring one another, students are more likely to promote the success of one another through mutual assistance, emotional support, and the sharing of ideas or resources. These positive social interactions, in turn, encourage greater social acceptance and the development of positive relationships among students and, in educational contexts, promote greater academic motivation and achievement (Johnson & Johnson, 1989, 2005). In fact, research on social interaction suggests that gains in social skills alone are insufficient to reduce social problems among students and encourage more positive peer relations. Only positive interdependence, and the subsequent positive social interactions that arise from it, can motivate youth to re-evaluate previous conclusions regarding the social desirability of others (Bierman, 2004).
Cooperative learning can have positive effects on adolescent bullying, alcohol use, and tobacco use.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Children, Teens
The goal of this program is to prevent depression and other mood disorders in adolescents.