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 Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children
Goal: Kansas’s Step It Up: Taking Steps to Healthy Success (Step It Up) Project aims to work towards making improvements to policies and practices in child care programs with regard to breastfeeding, child nutrition, physical activity, outdoor learning, and reductions in screen time. Step It Up is an extension of the National Early Care and Education Learning Collaboratives Project (ECELC) and uses a similar learning collaborative model.
Impact: Step It Up: Taking Steps to Healthy Success has made great improvements in promoting healthy eating and physical activity. The topics of Child Nutrition and Infant & Child Physical Activity had the highest number of increases in best practices. Breastfeeding & Infant Feeding had the highest percentage of best practices being met at pre-assessment (55%).
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Cancer, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The goal of this program is to use storytelling to increase colorectal cancer screening and improve nutrition and physical activity among underserved Latina women.
Filed under Good Idea, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Families
Goal: The goal of beautification and restoration projects is to restore neighborhoods and communities in order to prevent criminal activity and encourage community engagement.
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Social Environment, Children, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: The goals of this program are to improve parenting skills and children’s behaviors and decrease conduct disorders; to improve children’s social competencies; and to improve family attachment, harmony, communication, and organization.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Teens, Families
Goal: Strong4Life is a statewide movement to inspire kids and families to develop lifelong healthy habits, one positive step at a time.
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Student Performance K-12, Children
Goal: The goal of this program is to increase the academic achievement of children living in poverty.
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Children, Teens
Goal: The mission of Students Against Violence Everywhere is to decrease violence in schools and communities by promoting meaningful student involvement, education and service opportunities.
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Civic Engagement, Children, Teens
Goal: The overall goal of the Students for the Advancement of Global Entrepreneurship (SAGE) program is to establish a collaboration among high school students, college mentors, and local business leaders as the high school students complete experiential learning projects related to global entrepreneurship.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Cancer
Goal: The goal of this campaign was to educate park visitors about the need to protect themselves from the damaging rays of the sun and how best to prevent skin cancer.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Adults, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Goal: To bring a culture of physical activity to the Latino and African-American communities in Chicago in order to decrease health problems related to inactivity.