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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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National Coalition for Food-Safe Schools

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Food Safety, Children, Teens

Goal: The goal of the National Coalition for Food-Safe Schools is to reduce foodborne illness in the U.S. by improving food safety in schools.

Neighborhood Market DrillDown + (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Economic Climate, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to promote investments in underserved urban neighborhoods.

North Carolina Antipredatory Home Lending Law (North Carolina)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes

Goal: The goal of this law is to reduce abusive lending practices.

North Carolina Breast Cancer Screening Program (North Carolina)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Cancer, Women, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Rural

Goal: The goal of the North Carolina Breast Cancer Screening Program is to increase breast cancer screening among older African American women.

Parent Child Development Center

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Social Environment, Families

Goal: The goal of this program is to foster positive family relationships.

Parent Voices (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Social Environment, Children, Adults, Families, Urban

Goal: The goal of Parent Voices is to improve access to child care for all families through advocacy.

Parenting a Second Time Around (PASTA) (USA)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Social Environment, Older Adults

Goal: The goal of Parenting the Second Time Around (PASTA) is to train facilitators to lead workshops on childcare for grandparent/caregiver relatives.

Partners in Reading (Greensboro, NC)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Literacy, Children

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve reading skills for beginner readers.

Partners on the PATH (Grand Rapids, MI)

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

Goal: The project seeks to model how the aging network in partnership with a managed care plan can improve the health outcomes for older adults.

Peacekeepers (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Urban

Goal: The goal of Peacekeepers is to prevent violence among youth in the Hunters Point neighborhood of San Francisco.

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.