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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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Jacksonville Network for Strengthening Families (Jacksonville)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Social Environment, Families, Urban

Goal: The goal of the Jacksonville Network for Strengthening Families program is to provide training, services, and support to Jacksonville families in an effort to increase prepared marriages, reduce divorce rates, and increase financial and emotional support of children by non-custodial parents.

Living for Health (Miami, FL)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Heart Disease & Stroke, Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: The goal of the program is to identify and follow underserved adult residents with undiagnosed or untreated high blood pressure, cholesterol or glucose, provide education to encourage healthy lifestyle changes and encourage them to seek treatment – anyone without a primary care physician is referred to a participating FQHC.

Impact: Among those participants who were followed over time and were able to be reached by phone, there were significant increases in healthy food consumption as well as significant decreases in smoking, fat consumption, and fast food frequency.

McIntosh Middle School's Coordinated School Health Program (Sarasota, FL)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Adolescent Health, Teens

Goal: The goal of the CSHP is to improve learning, performance, and health for students and teachers.

Miami-Dade County Environmentally Endangered Lands Program (Miami-Dade County, FL)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Built Environment

Goal: The goal of this program is to help protect, restore, and conserve the air, water, land and ecosystem resources of Miami-Dade County.

Opportunity Passport

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Investment & Personal Finance, Children, Teens

Goal: The Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative is a national foundation whose mission is to help youth in foster care make successful transitions to adulthood.

Partners Clinic (St Lucie County, FL)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Adults

Goal: The goal of this program is to improve access to health care for uninsured and underinsured adults.

Prenatal Plus Program (Lake Worth, FL)

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

Goal: The overall goal of the Prenatal Plus Program, combined with the Partners for a Healthy Baby curriculum, is to improve birth outcomes, decrease rates of child abuse and neglect, and strengthen families.

Impact: Reduced low birth weight rate through risk reduction during pregnancy.

Project CRAFT

Filed under Effective Practice, Education / Educational Attainment, Teens

Goal: Project CRAFT is designed to improve educational levels, teach vocational skills and reduce recidivism among adjudicated youth, while addressing the home building industry's need for entry level workers.

Project SUCCESS - Clay Behavioral Health Center (Middleburg, FL)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Alcohol & Drug Use, Teens

Goal: The goal of Project SUCCESS is to prevent and reduce substance abuse in high-risk middle-school and high-school aged adolescents.

Putnam County Early Entry into Prenatal Care-WIC (Putnam County, FL)

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

Goal: The goal of this program is to increase prenatal entry into WIC. The ultimate purpose is to lower the rate of low birth weight as well as the rate of infant mortality.

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.