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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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Grab n Go (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Teens, Urban

Goal: The goal of Grab n Go's is to ensure students begin the day with a healthy meal, in turn affecting overall health and education of students.

Green the Tenderloin (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Energy & Sustainability, Children, Teens, Adults, Older Adults, Families, Urban

Goal: Green the Tenderloin provides urban gardening classes, fresh produce, and nutrition education to members of the community.

Health Impact Assessment in Land Use Development (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants, Urban

Goal: The goal of this program is to ensure that city planning and policy making accounts for how land use development impacts community health resources.

Health in All Policies

Filed under Good Idea, Community / Governance

Goal: The goal of Health in All Policies is to ensure that health effects are routinely taken into consideration when developing policy.

Impact: Health in All Policies initiatives have helped create healthier communities through implementing policies with health consequences in mind. For many counties, this includes creating cross-agency teams and workgroups to address problems in their community.

Healthy Living Project (HLP)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Women, Men, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: To eliminate or reduce sexual transmission risk behavior, to eliminate or reduce injection drug use risks and to improve health care practices and quality of life among people living with HIV.

Homeless Prenatal Program (San Francisco)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Children, Women, Families, Urban

Goal: The Homeless Prenatal Program works with families to break the cycle of homelessness and poverty by providing prenatal and parenting support, family finances and stability, and basic needs services.

Independent Transportation Network (Portland, ME)

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

Goal: The mission of this program is to provide a community-based, and community supported, economically viable and consumer-oriented, quality transportation service for seniors.

Juma Ventures' Individual Development Accounts (San Francisco)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Investment & Personal Finance, Children

Goal: The IDA program is designed to help young people enter the financial mainstream, gain financial stability and build assets.

Lark-Inn (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: To provide a temporary and safe housing solution to homeless adolescents and young adults aged 18-24.

Larkin Street Youth Services' HIRE UP Program (San Francisco)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Community & Business Resources, Children, Urban

Goal: Larkin Street Youth Service's mission is "to create a continuum of services that inspires youth to move beyond the streets. We will nurture potential, promote dignity, and support bold steps for all." HIRE UP's mission is: "to provide homeless and runaway youth with an educational foundation and marketable skill set that will greatly increase their chances of progressing into an independent, productive adulthood."

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.
Michigan Health Improvement Alliance