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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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Santa Monica Urban Runoff Recycling Facility (Los Angeles)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants, Children, Teens, Adults, Older Adults, Urban

Goal: SMURRF aims to mitigate the pollution affecting Santa Monica Bay from urban runoff and raise public awareness of Santa Monica Bay pollution. We have reviewed the SMURRF system and began an investigation of installing a RO system to produce potable water in the coming years. This goal is to contribute to the city’s new sustainable master water plan to become self-reliant on local water by 2020

School Based Mentoring Program: Palm Beach (Palm Beach and Martin, FL)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children, Teens, Adults

Goal: The goal of the program is to make a positive difference in the lives of children, primarily through professionally guided one-to-one relationships with caring adults, and to assist them in achieving their highest potential, as they grow to become confident, competent and caring individuals.

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.

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.

Senior Wellness Program (St. Augustine, FL)

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

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve the quality of life of residents of Northeast Florida by providing programs and services which raise the health, education and economic standards of citizens living at the lowest social and economic levels.

Shape Up SF (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: Shape Up SF aims to reduce health disparities by creating healthy eating and active living environments and improving physical activity and nutrition.

Impact: Shape Up SF implemented Safe Routes to School, Bayview HEAL Zone, PE4SF, Rethink Your Drink, Southeast Food Access (SEFA) Working Group, SEFA Food Guardians, and Walking Challenge, and increased physical activity and access to healthy foods in San Francisco.

Simply Delivered Meals for ME (Maine)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality

Goal: The goal of this specialized meal delivery program called Simply Delivered for ME (SDM) was to improve care and reduce 30-day hospital readmission rates for those eligible for the program.

SNAP 2 It! (St. Louis, Missouri)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Urban

Goal: The program aims to increase the consumption of local, healthy fruits and vegetables in SNAP participants.

Something to Smile About Dental Program (Garrett County, MD)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Oral Health, Children, Women

Goal: The purpose of the "Something to Smile About" dental program is to improve dental outcomes for children in Garrett County, Maryland.

Southwest Indiana Project AWARE (Vanderburgh County and Warrick County, Indiana)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Teens, Urban

Goal: The Goals of Project Aware include:

1) Increase capacity of adults to respond to behavioral health issues of adolescents
2) Increase the mental health literacy of youth-interacting adults
3) Link adolescents with behavioral health issues to mental, emotional, and behavioral health assistance and services
4) Increase the number of collaborative partnerships with youth- serving community agencies/programs
5) Conduct outreach and engagement strategies with adolescents and their families/caregivers to increase awareness of and promote positive behavioral health

Impact: Collaboration and partnerships can help drive awareness of mental health issues and training adolescents in Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) can help spread awareness of mental health resources and referrals to professionals.

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.