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 Good Idea, Economy / Economic Climate
- Economic Opportunity: Develop as a regional center for job creation in diverse fields with an emphasis on new technologies and emerging industries.
- Environmental Responsibility: Demonstrate the economic and community benefits of a long-term commitment to reducing consumption of natural resources and impacts on the natural environment.
- Social Equity: Provide broad access to social, cultural and economic opportunities for all segments of the community.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Urban
The primary goal of the ‘Switch-Play’ promising practice was to develop and test three approaches towards the achievement of healthy weight maintenance among 10-year-old children: (1) through reducing the time spent in sedentary behaviors (e.g. TV viewing, playing electronic games and recreational computer use); (2) through increasing skills and enjoyment of physical activity; or (3) through a combination of these two strategies.
Children participating in the behavioral modification and motor skills development components of Switch-Play had improved BMI.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Teens, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
The goal of this program is to reduce syphilis prevalence in the United States and eliminate the syphilis health disparity.
Teaching Alternative High School Students Computer Skills through Experiential Learning (Tonasket, WA)
Filed under Good Idea, Education / Student Performance K-12, Teens
The goal was to engage students in learning how to use and fix computers so they would be competitve in the job market following school.
Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants, Children
The goal of this website is to provide younger children with basic information about acid rain and help them form a foundation of knowledge about, and an interest for, a variety of environmental issues.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Other Conditions, Adults, Older Adults
The Arthritis Self-Management Program is a group workshop that educates individuals with rheumatic diseases on techniques to help them manage their disease and live more active lives.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders
The goal of this program is to provide a resource and referral service that could meet the needs of lower-income employees who might not be well served under a typical employee assistance program.
Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability, Urban
- Municipal clean fuel vehicle purchases
- Green power use and public education program
- Telecommuting and telecenters
- Enhanced pedestrian connections and increased housing and employment density near transit
- Bicycle lanes, paths, and routes
- Energy efficient landscaping
- Solar pool heating
- Traffic signal and system upgrades
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children
The goal of the Crest Cavity-Free Zone Program is to improve the oral health of underprivileged children.
The educational program was effective in promoting improved oral health in these children over a four-week period.
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Domestic Violence & Abuse, Families
The mission of DAIP is to provide advocacy on behalf of battered women. DAIP staff provide information and assess the women's safety regardless of the situation, but they also offer advocacy at three key time periods: immediately after police intervention and arrest, throughout the court proceedings, and after case disposition. The advocates offer support and information about available community resources, explain the criminal court process, describe the civil court remedies available, and obtain information from the women in order to serve as their liaisons to the legal system and to ascertain the level of danger that each woman is in.