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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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Long-term Cost Effectiveness of Placing Homeless Seniors in Permanent Supportive Housing (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes, Women, Men, Older Adults, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: To describe a new model of enriched supportive housing that not only improves the quality of life of seniors but also can provide a return on investment that reduces health care expenditures.

Impact: Housing chronically homeless adults reduces homelessness, improves health outcomes, and reduces health care costs. The greatest reduction in health care costs after placement in supportive housing is seen among chronically homeless adults and seniors.

McAuley Village (Providence, RI)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes, Families, Urban

Goal: McAuley Village attempts to take poor single parents from a life of welfare dependence to one of independence. Although primarily a housing program, it also holistically addresses the many factors contributing to the vulnerability of these families, while attempting to tailor a solution to each family.

Medical-Legal Partnerships: Investing in Social Services as a Core Strategy for Healthcare (New York City)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Children, Teens, Adults, Urban

Goal: New York City LegalHealth is a fruitful partnership that operates in 11 clinics of the city's public hospitals. One example is by supporting individuals in tenant-landlord disputes.

Impact: With an average of $225 per case, LegalHealth was able to effectively demand fixes in asthma patients' living conditions. This impact directly resulted in a 90% drop in emergency room visits and hospital admissions for this asthma patient group.

Mercy Housing Colorado Affordable Housing (Colorado)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes, Families

Goal: The goal of Mercy Housing is to create and strengthen Healthy Communities Across America.

Move Beyond Crisis (San Francisco, CA)

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Housing & Homes, Children, Teens, Adults, Older Adults, Families, Urban

Goal: Move Beyond Crisis is a walk-in-center that helps individuals and families find emergency housing and support services, including food vouchers, clothing, and benefits.

Multistate Investigation into Ameriquest's Predatory Lending Practices

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes

Goal: The goal of this investigation was to stop Ameriquest's predatory lending practices.

North Carolina Antipredatory Home Lending Law (North Carolina)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes

Goal: The goal of this law is to reduce abusive lending practices.

Operation Walking Shield

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Housing & Homes, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: 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.

Partnership for Permanent Housing (Montgomery County, MD)

Filed under Good Idea, Economy / Housing & Homes

Goal: The goal of this program is to end homelessness for families by combining the case management component of transitional programs with quicker access to permanent housing.

Police Homeowner Loan Program (Columbia, SC)

Filed under Effective Practice, Community / Crime & Crime Prevention

Goal: The goal of this program is to encourage police officers to reside in low-income neighborhoods in order to reduce criminal activity.

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.
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