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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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Senior Companions (North Tazewell, VA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Older Adults

Goal: The goal of the Senior Companion program is to pair low-income adult volunteers with homebound older adults in order to provide senior services to the elderly, as well as provide benefits to the Senior Companions.

Senior Corps (USA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Civic Engagement, Older Adults

Goal: The goal of this program is to match seniors with volunteer opportunities.

Senior FarmShare (Massachusetts)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults

Goal: The goal of the Senior FarmShare program is to provide local farms with income and low-income seniors with food assistance.

Senior Health and Resource Eligibility System (SHARES) (Florida)

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

Goal: Both local and state governments face huge challenges in providing senior populations access to public, agency, professional and family caregivers, and community services that allow seniors to remain independent. The complex maze of constantly changing program and service eligibility rules challenge even the most knowledgeable senior service providers. Fragmentation within senior service agencies further results in duplication of services, unnecessary waiting lists, and caregiver and volunteer burnout. This resource attempts to address those problems by providing quick and easy access to a variety of programs.

Senior Wellness Program (St. Augustine, FL)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve the quality of life of residents of Northeast Florida by providing programs and services which raise the health, education and economic standards of citizens living at the lowest social and economic levels.

Seniors Preparing for Rainbow Years (SPRY) (Houston, TX)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Older Adults, Older Adults

Goal: The Seniors Preparing for Rainbow Years program was established to enhance the lives of LGBT persons age 60 and older.

Sentenac Canyon and Cienega (San Diego County, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Environmental Health / Wildlife, Rural

Goal: The goal of the acquisition of Sentenac Canyon and Cienega was to protect the land from development and preserve its wildlife habitats.

Shape Up & Go! (Ohio, Florida, and Nevada)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Adults

Goal: The goal of Shape Up & Go! is to encourage physical activity and improvements in nutrition.

Shape Up SF (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: Shape Up SF aims to reduce health disparities by creating healthy eating and active living environments and improving physical activity and nutrition.

Impact: Shape Up SF implemented Safe Routes to School, Bayview HEAL Zone, PE4SF, Rethink Your Drink, Southeast Food Access (SEFA) Working Group, SEFA Food Guardians, and Walking Challenge, and increased physical activity and access to healthy foods in San Francisco.

Shape Up Somerville (Somerville, MA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Physical Activity, Children, Families, Urban

Goal: The goal of Shape Up Somerville is to prevent obesity through a community-based environmental change intervention.

Impact: Through multi-level social interventions (community, school, family) intake of sugar-sweetened beverages and screen time can decrease among children.

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.
Greater Hampton Roads