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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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Montgomery Youth Work's Partnership for All Youth (Wheaton, MD)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Employment, Children

Goal: MYW's mission is to provide all youth with meaningful training and job opportunities aimed at facilitating a successful transition from school to work and to contribute to workforce development in Montgomery County.

The purpose of the Montgomery Partnership for All Youth is to expand the skills of workforce development professionals on how to assist youth with disabilities in taking advantage of youth workforce initiatives.

Multicultural Health Promoters Program (Montgomery County, MD)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Health Care Access & Quality, Racial/Ethnic Minorities

Goal: The goals of the program are to improve the health of recent immigrant families by training native speakers from different countries to help enroll members of their communities in various publicly funded health programs.

New Hope Project (Wisconsin)

Filed under Effective Practice, Economy / Employment, Adults

Goal: New Hope provided full-time workers with several benefits: an earnings supplement to raise their income above poverty, low-cost health insurance, and subsidized child care. For those unable to find full-time work, the program offered help in finding a job and referral to a wage-paying community service job when necessary.

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.

Safe STEPS (Safe and Successful Transition of Elderly Patients Study) Intervention Program (PA, MD, NC)

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

Goal: The goal of the program is to ensure effective discharge of patients from the hospital back to their homes, and to reduce 30-day hospital readmission.

Smart Growth (Maryland)

Filed under Effective Practice, Environmental Health / Built Environment

Goal: Smart Growth has three straightforward goals:
- to save our most valuable remaining natural resources before they are forever lost,
- to support existing communities and neighborhoods by targeting state resources to support development in areas where the infrastructure is already in place or planned to support it, and
- to save taxpayers millions of dollars in the unnecessary cost of building the infrastructure required to support sprawl.

Something to Smile About Dental Program (Garrett County, MD)

Filed under Effective Practice, Health / Oral Health, Children, Women

Goal: The purpose of the "Something to Smile About" dental program is to improve dental outcomes for children in Garrett County, Maryland.

The Anne Arundel County REACH Program (Anne Arundel County, MD)

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

Goal: The goal of this program is to provide health care access to uninsured, low income residents of Anne Arundel County.

The Bright Beginnings Infant Mortality Reduction Program (Prince George's County, MD)

Filed under Good Idea, Health / Maternal, Fetal & Infant Health, Teens, Adults, Women, Families, Racial/Ethnic Minorities, Urban

Goal: Bright Beginnings seeks to prevent poor pregnancy outcomes among Prince George's low-income, medically underserved women and children.

Impact: Bright Beginnings has provided services to thousands of women to help reduce infant mortality and prevent adverse pregnancy outcomes. The program has been noted as a promising practice by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene since 2010.

The Guided Care Model

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

Goal: The Guided Care Model aims to better health outcomes and reduce spending for aging adults with multiple chronic conditions.

Impact: The Guided Care Model has been shown to improve quality of care and reduce the use of home health care.

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.