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, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Children, Urban
Goal: The goals of the program are to carry out a comprehensive strategy to apprehend and prosecute offenders who carry firearms, to put others on notice that offenders face certain and serious punishment for carrying illegal firearms, and to prevent youths from following the same criminal path.
Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Employment, Adults
Goal: Opportunity Chicago's goal was to identify employment barriers within the system and to reduce those barriers by creating processes that would result in a smoother and more streamlined path to employment for CHA residents.
Impact: Of the 6,743 participants in an Opportunity Chicago program between 2006 and 2010, 5,185 (77%) were employed by the end of the project. Fifty-four percent retained employment for two or more years. Fifty-nine percent of participants saw an increase in quarterly earnings.
Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention, Children
Goal: Florida started the drug court movement by creating the first treatment-based drug court in the nation in 1989. The drug court concept was developed in Dade County (Miami, Florida) stemming from a federal mandate to reduce the inmate population or suffer the loss of federal funding. The Supreme Court of Florida recognized the severity of the situation and directed Judge Herbert Klein to research the problem. Judge Klein determined that a large majority of criminal inmates had been incarcerated because of drug charges and were revolving back through the criminal justice system because of underlying problems of drug addiction. It was decided that the delivery of treatment services needed to be coupled with the criminal justice system and the need for strong judicial leadership and partnerships to bring treatment services and the criminal justice system together.
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / School Environment, Children
Goal: The goals of Peace Works are to (1) promote students' prosocial behavior through the use of conflict resolution; (2) enhance school climate through caring and support; (3) teach parents constructive problem solving and anger management; and (4) improve parents' positive affiliation with school.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Education / School Environment, Children, Teens, Urban
Goal: The goal of this program is to reduce aggressive behavior among children and adolescents.
Impact: An evaluation found significant, positive program effects on six of the seven variables assessed, including knowledge of psychosocial skills, self-reported aggression, and teacher-reported aggression, with a 41% decrease in aggression-related disciplinary incidents and a 67% reduction in suspensions for violent behavior.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health
Goal: The goals of the Packard Pediatric Weight Control Program are to (1) help children improve their eating and exercise habits; (2) create a balanced diet; and (3) help participating children maintain or gradually lose weight.
Peers Reaching Out and Modeling Intervention Strategies (PROMISE) (Texas, Colorado, California, New York, Washington)
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Immunizations & Infectious Diseases, Urban
Goal: The goal of Community PROMISE is to encourage HIV prevention practices.
Impact: PROMISE leads to significant community-wide progress toward consistent HIV risk reduction.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Children, Teens
Goal: The Penn Resiliency Program is a depression prevention program that seeks to reduce the longevity of symptoms exhibited and the severity of symptoms at onset of depression, through cognitive-behavioral therapy and problem-solving techniques.
Impact: The Penn Resiliency program shows that a group-based program seeking to prevent the initial onset of and decrease the exacerbation of depression children and teens by incorporating specific coping and problem-solving skills can reduce depressive symptoms over time.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens
Goal: The goals of Photovoice are for Clarkston High School students to 1) document community health-related strengths and challenges through participatory research; 2) reflect, think critically, and dialogue about their research; 3) present their findings persuasively to pertinent stakeholders.
Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Toxins & Contaminants
Goal: The goals and benefits of piltess drilling include:
-elimination of unsightly and hazardous pits
-a decrease in the need for cuts in sensitive and hilly areas
-a reduction in total surface disturbance associated with a well pad
-elimination of the risk of waterfowl and wildlife mortality related to pits
-elimination of the risk of damaging underground pipelines and utilities
-virtual elimination of drilling waste
-reduction of water consumption by as much as 80%
-elimination of soil segregation, which reduces wind erosion problems
-reduction of truck traffic associated with transporting drilling wastes by as much as 75%