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, Health / Wellness & Lifestyle, Children
Goal: The goals of this program are to increase developmentally appropriate physical activity, to increase the consumption of fruit and vegetables by children, and to increase the consumption of low-fat milk products and calcium-rich foods. The long-range goal is to incorporate this theme into the life of Lorain County children through collaboration with schools, agencies and facilities that provide services and activities for children and their families.
Filed under Good Idea, Education / School Environment, Children, Teens
Goal: The goal of the Edible Schoolyard program is to teach students about gardening, cooking, and healthy eating through the creation and maintenance of an organic garden.
Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment, Adults
Goal: The Edible Trees Program seeks to increase local access to fruiting trees and provide equitable access to healthy foods.
Impact: The Edible Trees Program provides communities access to fruit and nut trees. The program has funded 19 projects resulting in 1,320 trees & shrubs planted.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The Emergency Room Intervention for Suicidal Adolescent Females focuses on changing the conceptualization of suicidal behavior and expectations for therapy, thereby increasing attendance at outpatient therapy and decreasing future suicide risk.
Impact: The intervention increases the likelihood of follow-up treatment in an outpatient clinic and reduces suicide risk among adolescent females who have visited an emergency room due to a suicide attempt.
Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability, Families
Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce energy usage in order to save on energy costs, increase energy reliability, prevent greenhouse gas emissions, and improve national energy security. It is also an essential strategy for reducing natural gas prices and ensuring a balanced energy future in a growing economy.
Enhanced Patient-Based Referral for Sexually Transmitted Infection Notification (New York (Brooklyn))
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban
Goal: The goal of this intervention is to promote patient referral among patients with a recent STI diagnosis.
Impact: Program participants were more likely to report sexual partner notification at 1 month and were more likely to report no unprotected sexual intercourse at 6 months.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults
Goal: The goal of EnhanceFitness is to encourage older adults to engage in regular physical activity to improve their health and well-being.
Impact: EnhanceFitness participants reported a 13% improvement in social function, a 52% improvement in depression, and a 35% improvement in physical functioning. Additionally, participants' healthcare costs were 21% less than those of non-participants after one year.
Filed under Good Idea, Community / Public Safety, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Rural
Goal: In an effort to prepare and engage community residents to take a more participatory role in their communities, Monterey County Health Department (MCHD) developed and has offered since 2014 a leadership and civic engagement program (enLACE) that addresses the social determinants of health, community engagement and their relationship to the health of the community.
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Public Safety, Teens
Goal: The goal of this program is to decrease driving under the influence among college students.
Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants
Goal: The objectives of the program are to educate the public about the contributions that publicly-owned wastewater treatment facilities make to clean water; to encourage public support for municipal and industrial efforts in effective wastewater management, biosolids management, and wet weather pollution control; and to recognize communities that go much beyond the minimum needed to meet Clean Water Act requirements.