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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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Rock On Cafe (Broome and Tioga, NY)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children

Goal: To create a sustainable school lunch program that incorporated healthier food items by leveraging the combined efforts of several school districts.

Safe and Sustainable Housing for American Indians

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Housing & Homes, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The Red Feather Development Groups (RFDG) goal is to bring sustainable and affordable housing to Tribal Lands.

Impact: The Red Feather Development Groups (RFDG) community development work has seen promising results. In seven years, the organization has reached over 1,000 individuals and distributed over 700 "home health kits" to tribal land homeowners.

Safe City Youth Leadership (Denver, CO)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Civic Engagement, Teens, Urban

Goal: The group’s mission is to improve the leadership skills of Denver’s youth while supporting and improving the community.

Safe Routes for Seniors (New York City)

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

Goal: To improve cardiovascular health among seniors by improving the pedestrian environment in New York.

Safe STEPS (Safe and Successful Transition of Elderly Patients Study) Intervention Program (PA, MD, NC)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults

Goal: The goal of the program is to ensure effective discharge of patients from the hospital back to their homes, and to reduce 30-day hospital readmission.

Safe Streets / Strong Communities (New Orleans, LA)

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Teens, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: Safe Streets/Strong Communities is a community-based organization that campaigns for a new criminal justice system in New Orleans, one that creates safe streets and strong communities for everyone, regardless of race or economic status.

SAFE-T Program (Toronto, Ontario)

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

Goal: SAFE-T is committed to conducting research in the areas of child sexual abuse, sexualized behaviour in children and adolescents who have offended sexually. Our treatment is uniquely tailored to respond to the strengths and challenges of individuals and families with the overarching goal of healthy future relationships.

Safer Homes Project (Pacoima)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants, Children, Teens, Adults

Goal: The mission of the Safer Homes Program is to help residents to create healthy comes for their families in order to prevent environmentally related health problems such as lead poisoning, asthma, mold, and moisture.

Safety Counts (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Adults, Women, Men

Goal: The goal of the Safety Counts is to reduce behaviors which place drug users at a high risk of HIV infection.

Salem County School-to-Careers Initiative (Salem County, NJ)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Educational Attainment, Children, Rural

Goal: The goal of this program is to help at-risk youth and young adults to finish high school, take college-level classes, and have structured work experiences that will lead to successful transitions to adulthood.

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.