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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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Eye Care Community Outreach (ECCO) (Marion County & Surrounding Counties, IN)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Health Care Access & Quality

Goal: ECCO seeks to improve access to vision health care services for uninsured and low-income individuals.

Farm to Hospital (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity

Goal: The goals of Farm to Hospital programs are to create partnerships between local farmers and hospitals in order to bring fresh, healthy food to medical facilities and to create new markets for local farmers.

Fast Track Summer Exposure Camp (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Education / Educational Attainment, Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of the Fast Track camp is to prepare young student athletes to make a successful transition from high school to college academically, athletically, and socially.

Focus on Diabetes (Denver, CO)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Diabetes, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of Focus on Diabetes was to improve the health and health-related quality of life of African Americans with diabetes through community-based self-care education and events.

Food Stamps and Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) at Arizona Farmer's Markets (Arizona)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Government Assistance

Goal: To help low-income people increase their access to healthy foods while building community and economic assets through local food production and distribution.

Green Harvest Program (Pittsburgh, PA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to provide nutritious food to low-income people and to promote sustainable agriculture practices.

Healthy Changes (Portland, OR)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

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

Goal: The goal of the Healthy Changes program is to increase the ability of program participants to improve their self-care on a day-to-day basis, including diet and physical activity aspects of their diabetes control regime.

Healthy Hoops (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Teens, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: Healthy Hoops uses a holistic approach to not only enhance disease management and health outcomes, but also improve quality of life, helping children live healthy and happier lives.

Hearts N’ Parks (USA)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens, Adults

Goal: The goal of Hearts N’ Parks was to reduce obesity and the risk of heart disease among Americans by encouraging them to aim for a healthy weight, follow a healthy eating plan, and engage in regular physical activity.

Improved Childhood Blood Lead Screening in Rhode Island (Rhode Island)

Note: This practice has been Archived.

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children

Goal: The main objective of this program is to enhance blood lead screening rates of children who are enrolled in all major managed care plans in Rhode Island.

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.