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 Effective Practice, Community / Social Environment, Children
Goal: The program has five main goals: foster the development of empathy; develop emotional literacy; reduce levels of bullying, aggression and violence, and promote children's pro-social behaviors; increase knowledge of human development, learning, and infant safety; and prepare students for responsible citizenship and responsive parenting.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Urban
Goal: The goal of the Runaway Intervention Program is to prevent or reduce risky behaviors of young runaway girls that have been sexually abused or exploited in order to return participants to a healthy developmental trajectory.
Impact: This program is a promising intervention for restoring sexually abused runaway girls to a healthy developmental trajectory, with particular benefit to those who are at the highest risk.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults
Goal: The Safe at Home program makes modifications and accessibility improvements in the homes of low-income elderly homeowners in order to avoid injury and nursing home placement.
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Children
Goal: The program has two main focuses. The first is prevention of sexual, emotional, or physical abuse by people known to the child. The other focus of the program is safety around strangers.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases
Goal: The goal of this intervention is to prevent new STD infections.
Impact: The Safe in the City program shows that clinic waiting room videos displaying prevention knowledge and techniques can actually help to reduce the number of new infections of certain STDs.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Urban
Goal: The main goal of the Middle School strategy is to reduce the incidence of violence among youth measured by the reduction in suspensions for violence and to improve the perception of safety at school.
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Transportation, Children, Families
Goal: The goal of the Safe Routes to School program is to empower communities to make walking and bicycling to school a safe and routine activity.
Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment
Goal: Safe Routes to School programs aim to make it safer for students to walk and bike to school and encourage more walking and biking where safety is not a barrier.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Teens, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban
Goal: To combat the epidemic of violence among Baltimore’s youth and support traditional public safety strategies using a combination of public health and human service models to reduce violence.
Impact: It was estimated that the program was associated with 5.4 fewer homicide incidents and 34.6 fewer nonfatal shooting incidents during 112 cumulative months of intervention post observations.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Family Planning, Teens
Goal: The goal of the Safer Choices program is to reduce the number of students engaging in unprotected sexual intercourse.
Impact: The program reduced the frequency of intercourse without a condom, reduced the number of sexual partners with whom students had intercourse without a condom, and increased use of condoms and other protection against pregnancy at last intercourse.