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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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Reach for Health Community Youth Service (New York City, New York)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of the Reach for health Community Youth Service program is to reduce risky sexual behaviors among urban Latino and African American youth.

Impact: Long-term impact has been recorded among participants after two years: this includes delayed initiation of intercourse and reduced frequency of intercourse among sexually active adolescents.

Saving Lives (Massachusetts)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Public Safety

Goal: The goal of this program was to improve transportation safety in Massachusetts.

Impact: The Saving Lives Program successfully reduced drunk driving by 42% and speeding-related crashes by 25% through community-based, innovative, and cost-effective interventions.

Strong Hearts, Healthy Communities (StrongPeople Healthy Hearts)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Older Adults, Adults, Women, Men, Older Adults

Goal: SHHC targets individual, social, and built environment levels of behavior change and is designed to improve diet and physical activity behaviors, assess and improve local food and physical environment resources, and shift social norms about active living and healthy eating through civic engagement and capacity building.

Teen Outreach Program (TOP)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens

Goal: The program aims to develop healthy behaviors, life skills, and a sense of purpose in order to prevent problem behaviors.

Impact: Studies have shown that adolescents in the Teen Outreach Program are at 52% lower risk of school suspension, 60% lower risk of course failure, and 53% lower risk of teenage pregnancy.

Teen Outreach Program: Palm Beach (Boyton Beach, Florida/Palm Beach County, Florida)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health, Teens, Urban

Goal: To enable teens from disadvantaged circumstances to develop healthy behaviors, life skills, and a sense of purpose in order to prevent problem behaviors.

Impact: This program equips teens to better develop healthy behaviors and relationships,
develop life and leadership skills, and achieve educational
success.

The Los Angeles Jobs-First Greater Avenues for Independence (GAIN) Program

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Economy / Government Assistance, Adults, Families

Goal: GAIN is part of a large-scale, welfare-to-work initiative program operating in every county in California. In L.A. County, the initiative is under the supervision of the Department of Public Social Services. It helps local businesses and employers find and hire quality workers who seek meaningful employment. Prospective workers are participants in the state welfare programs known as California Work Opportunities and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKS) or General Relief Opportunities for Work (GROW).

Together Learning Choices (TLC) (Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Miami)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Adults, Urban

Goal: The goal of Together Learning Choices was to help HIV-infected youth increase their use of health care, decrease drug and alcohol use and risky sexual behaviors, and improve their quality of life.

Impact: Together Learning Choices (TLC) showed that prevention programs can effectively reduce risk acts among HIV-infected youths.

826 National (Chapters in CA, NY, IL, WA, MI, MA, DC)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Literacy, Children, Teens, Urban

Goal: The mission of 826 National is to help children ages 6-18 develop their writing skills, and to help teachers get their students excited about writing. The mission is based on the understanding that great leaps in learning can happen with one-on-one attention, and that strong writing skills are fundamental to future success.

Active Design Guidelines (New York City, NY)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment, Children, Teens, Adults, Women, Men, Older Adults, Families, Urban

Goal: The goal of the Active Design Guidelines is to provide architects and urban designers with tools to create healthier buildings, urban spaces, and outdoor places based on current academic research and best practices.

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.
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