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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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Worcester Goods for Guns Buyback (G4G) Program (Worcester, MA)

Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Public Safety, Children, Teens, Adults, Families, Urban

Goal: The goals of this program are three-fold: first, to remove unwanted improperly stored guns from homes; second, to educate the community about the increased risk of gun-related injuries in the home and the importance of safe gun storage; and third, to identify individuals possessing improperly stored guns at home and provide them with safety information and alternatives.

Impact: This program shows a strong collaboration between health care providers and public safety offices and showcases a low-cost means of removing unwanted firearms from the community. Additionally, most participants felt their homes were safer after turning in their firearm(s).

Young at Heart Project (California)

Filed under Good Idea, Art & Recreation / Music, Older Adults

Goal: The Young at Heart Project aims to provide the therapeutic benefits of music and entertainment for senior citizens in convalescent and residential care facilities throughout Central and Northern California.

Youth Work Together to Improve Community Conditions

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Built Environment

Goal: The goal of this initiative was to pinpoint community conditions that were detrimental to health in the Planada, California community.

Impact: The Student Education Empowerment Development Squad (SEEDS), with the help of the Central California Regional Obesity Prevention Program (CCROPP), addressed community issues through a youth-led process using Prevention Institute’s Tool for Health and Resilience in Vulnerable Environments (THRIVE).

AfterZone Initiative (Providence)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Social Environment, Children

Goal: The initiative's mission was to create a citywide system to support and sustain high-quality after-school programs.

Bicycle Education Enhancement Program (BEEP) (Pennsylvania)

Filed under Good Idea, Art & Recreation / Sports Recreation & Parks, Children, Teens, Families, Urban

Goal: The goal of the program is to provide middle and high school students in the greater Philadelphia are with education and tools to become life-long cyclists.

Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School (Upton, MA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Teens

Goal: The school's philosophy is "to provide the individual student with the academic and vocational/technical skills essential to achieve success in a productive career as well as to provide the global community with a highly qualified and prepared workforce."

Buck Tobacco Sponsorship Project (California)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Adults

Goal: The goal of the Buck Tobacco Sponsorship Project is to work with rodeo governing bodies throughout the state to establish written, voluntary policies restricting tobacco sponsorship at rodeos.

Challenge Day / Be The Change (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Civic Engagement, Teens

Goal: To provide youth and their communities with experiential workshops and programs that demonstrate the possibility of love and connection through the celebration of diversity, truth and full expression.

Child-Parent Center (Chicago, IL)

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children, Urban

Goal: The goals of this program are to provide a stable learning environment that will promote scholastic development, to enhance parent-child relationships, and to prevent delinquency.

Children of Divorce Intervention Program (CODIP) (Rochester, NY)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Social Environment, Children

Goal: The program's five main goals are to (1) foster a safe, supportive group environment; (2) facilitate the identification and expression of divorce-related feelings; (3) promote understanding of divorce-related concepts and clarify misconceptions; (4) teach effective coping and interpersonal skills; and (5) enhance positive perceptions of self and family.

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.
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