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, Teens, Urban
The goal of this program is to foster dialog, negotiation, and problem solving between offenders and victims in Oakland.
Filed under Good Idea, Community / Social Environment, Families
The OMI is a multi-sector effort to reduce the state's divorce rate, strengthen families, and reduce dependency on government support.
Filed under Good Idea, Education / Literacy, Teens, Adults, Women, Men, Older Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban
The goal of One City One Book: San Francisco Reads is to encourage enjoyment of reading, literacy, and community by having San Franciscans read and discuss the same book at the same time.
Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Teens
The goal of the Open Airways for Schools intervention is to improve asthma control among children in Latino communities in Chicago.
Filed under Effective Practice, Education / School Environment, Children
This program has three goals: (1) to strengthen students' social competency skills in communication, self-control, and interpersonal problem-solving; (2) to promote the creation of growth-fostering relationships among students and between students and the adults in their lives; and (3) to build a sense of community in classrooms and schools by providing a common "language" that fosters communication among students and between students and their teachers and other adults.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Oral Health, Children, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
The goal of the program is to train non-dental health and childcare professionals in dental disease screening and dental referrals for children.
Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes, Racial/Ethnic Minorities
Walking Shield's mission is to improve the quality of life and create positive futures for American Indians who live on our nation's reservations by managing and coordinating programs that provide shelter, healthcare, food and clothing, educational assistance, community development assistance, and humanitarian support.
Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Employment, Adults
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.
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
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, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens, Adults
The goal of this program is to reduce tobacco use in Oregon.