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 / Physical Activity, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The mission of Communities Putting Prevention to Work: Cherokee Nation is to promote healthy eating, physical activity and increase tobacco cessation throughout the tribe’s jurisdictional boundaries.
Impact: Communities Putting Prevention to Work: Cherokee Nation works to prevent obesity and tobacco use through various programs including chronic disease screenings, farm-to-school programs, and smoking cessation classes available to all Cherokees in the service area.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Families
Goal: The purpose of the Community Supporting Breastfeeding (CSB) designation program is to create a culture of breastfeeding support in communities, ultimately increasing breastfeeding initiation and duration rates and the health and well-being of families.
The CSB program’s immediate goals are to increase positive perceptions toward breastfeeding, increase the availability of breastfeeding resources, and reduce barriers experienced in the community by women of child-bearing age. The long-term goal of the project is to increase exclusive breastfeeding rates through a sustainable model of cross-sector support for breastfeeding.
The project also effectively addresses the racial and socioeconomic disparities in breastfeeding rates. The Kansas Breastfeeding Coalition’s collective impact approach supports efforts of those serving African-American and lower income women. As a result of this project, these organizations receive the support they need to increase their impact when they become aligned with other, larger organizations working toward similar goals, creating a synergy across groups working on breastfeeding support.
Impact: Based on results from our evaluation, along with improved exclusive breastfeeding rates in the majority of the communities that could be associated with the CSB criteria, we believe the CSB program is impactful.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens
Goal: The Communities That Care Coalition's mission is to bring Franklin County schools, parents, youth and the community together to promote protective factors, reduce risk factors, prevent substance use and other risky behaviors, and improve young people's ability to reach their full potential and thrive.
Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants
Goal: The clear goal of CARE is to foster projects that will become self-sustaining and use CARE funding as seed money. The CARE Process is designed to encourage communities to enlist the support of project partners that will enable the project to continue even without EPA resources. Rather than supporting one time projects, CARE will support community partnerships that will endure and provide environmental benefits long into the future.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The original goal of the Community Action Model has been to improve the health and environment of a community by reducing tobacco influences while building community capacity. It can be applied to a variety of health and welfare issues and has been used successfully in many communities with multiple topics of intervention.
Impact: The Community Action Model has resulted in new tobacco control policies within San Francisco, many of which serve as models for other communities.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Urban
Goal: The goal of the Community Asthma Prevention Program is to provide a community-driven asthma management program in order to increase asthma awareness and knowledge, and to increase the quality of life of those living with asthma.
Filed under Good Idea, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Teens, Adults, Rural
Goal: The goal of the Community Corretions Program is to provide an alternative to incarceration by providing counseling to the offender and organizing integration back into the community through community service activities.
Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment, Children, Families
Goal: The Community Gardens Program aims to improve the health of the residents of San Antonio and the environment by creating community gardens, which provide a place for gathering, exercising, and learning, as well as preserving San Antonio’s green space.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Urban
Goal: Isles, Inc., is a nationally recognized nonprofit community development and environmental organization with the mission to foster more self-reliant families in healthy, sustainable communities.
Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Built Environment
Goal: The goal of the Community Greenspace program is to restore and revitalize urban neighborhoods by helping residents create greenspace in their communities.