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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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The Key Clubhouse of South Florida and Supportive Housing at Northside Commons (Miami-Dade County, FL)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Adults, Urban

Goal: The mission of The Key Clubhouse is to afford people who have been disrupted by mental illness the opportunity to recover meaningful and productive lives through reintegration in the workplace and the community.

The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (Austin, TX)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment

Goal: The mission of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is to increase the sustainable use and conservation of native wildflowers, plants, and landscapes.

The Maine Cardiovascular Health (CVH) Program (Maine)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease in Maine.

The Michigan Antibiotic Resistance Reduction (MARR) Coalition (Michigan)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases

Goal: The Michigan Antibiotic Resistance Reduction Coalition (MARR) seeks to improve the use of antimicrobial agents and reduce antimicrobial resistance rates in health care facilities and communities throughout the state of Michigan through the collaborative efforts of academic, community, government, labor and industry partners. MARR seeks to accomplish this mission by serving as a catalyst and facilitator for programs of judicious antimicrobial use, and providing such programs; maintaining a repository of current and credible information about antimicrobial resistance; and participating in clinical interventions and research that will ensure improved antimicrobial use and reduce antimicrobial resistance.

The Missouri Cardiovascular Health (CVH) Program (Missouri)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve standards of care for patients with cardiovascular diseases and diabetes in Missouri.

The National Center on Financing for Children with Special Health Care Needs

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

Goal: The purpose of this four year project is to work in support of the Maternal and Child Health Bureau to meet its Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) National Agenda performance outcome that “all families of CSHCN will have adequate private and/or public insurance to pay for the services they need.” The work of the cooperative agreement will be multi-faceted and will (1) overcome the gaps in knowledge about CSHCN’s health care use and charges, (2) assess the extent to which CSHCN are receiving the health care services they need and the degree to which reimbursement is adequate to meet those needs, (3) identify trends in and developing recommendations for financing strategies, and (4) disseminate this information to families, health care providers, public and private health plans, and policy makers.

The New Jersey State Cancer Registry (New Jersey)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Cancer, Women, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goal of this program is to encourage early detection of breast cancer among diverse populations in New Jersey. When breast cancer is diagnosed at a local stage, 97% of women still are alive 5 years later. The 5-year survival rate decreases to 21% when the disease is diagnosed after it has spread to other sites.

The New York City Compost Project (New York City)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants, Urban

Goal: The goal of this project is to provide compost outreach and education to New York City residents and businesses.

The North Carolina Healthy Weight Initiative (North Carolina)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Children's Health, Children

Goal: Launched in the fall of 2002, the plan, Moving Our Children Toward a Healthy Weight: Finding the Will and the Way, calls for a multilevel approach to reducing the number of overweight and obese children. It focuses not only on behavioral and interpersonal change, but also on the organizational, community, and societal changes necessary to support healthy eating habits and increased physical activity for children, teens, and their families.

The Ohio Department of Health School-Based Dental Sealant Program (Ohio)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Oral Health, Children

Goal: The goal of the Ohio Department of Health School-Based Dental Sealant Program is to provide grants to agencies that aim to conduct dental sealant programs in schools with large proportions of low-income students.

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.