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 Local, Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Respiratory Diseases, Children, Teens, Families
Goal: The mission of the Healthy Kids Express Asthma Program is to provide quality asthma care and education to children with asthma and their caretakers in a school environment to work towards goals set by Healthy People 2020 and the National Asthma Education and Prevention Program (NAEPP).
Impact: The Healthy Kids Express Asthma Program serves approximately 600 children a year, improving inhaler technique and asthma knowledge among participants. Children enrolled in the program for two consecutive years have lower school absentee rates and hospitalizations due to asthma.
Filed under Local, Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Teens, Urban
Goal: The mission of Healthy Kids Express Dental is to improve oral healthcare in children through education on the importance of regular brushing, flossing, and using fluoride as well as through restorative treatments when necessary.
Impact: During the 2014-2015 school year, children pre-Kindergarten through 7th grade saw their average score on a dental knowledge test rise from 64.7% on the pretest to 72.1% on the posttest.
Filed under Local, Effective Practice, Health / Children's Health, Children, Teens, Families, Urban
Goal: The mission of HKES&I is to increase access to needed healthcare for children. This is accomplished through the goal of identifying children who need further follow-up, particularly for hearing and vision problems, and to connect them to those services.
Impact: Healthy Kids Express Screening and Immunization program is successful in providing evidence based care to low-income populations and for connecting those identified with screening needs to needed follow-up care.
Filed under Local, Good Idea, Health / Physical Activity, Urban
Goal: The program aims to increase the consumption of local, healthy fruits and vegetables in SNAP participants.
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.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Health / Prevention & Safety, Teens
Goal: The goals of the MCM are to provide a comprehensive and centralized concussion care program to 1) increase concussion awareness and identification through education and training; 2) facilitate the return to play decision with effective medical treatment, which includes baseline neurocognitive testing; and 3) implement a standardized concussion care protocol and concussion injury surveillance system to assist in the prevention of concussions, improve player safety, and limit school liability.
Impact: From the pilot evaluation of the model it was determined that the MCM model or a similarly designed one is effective in increasing the number of concussions identified, reported, and also treated at a clinic.
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Adults, Urban
Goal: The mission of The Key Clubhouse is to afford people who have been disrupted by mental illness the opportunity to recover meaningful and productive lives through reintegration in the workplace and the community.
Impact: Individuals who participate in a Clubhouse program have been found to have higher rates of employment, reduced hospitalization, reduced incarceration, and improved well-being as compared with other mental health programs.
The Key Clubhouse of South Florida and Supportive Housing at Northside Commons (Miami-Dade County, FL)
Filed under Good Idea, Health / Mental Health & Mental Disorders, Adults, Urban
Goal: The mission of The Key Clubhouse is to afford people who have been disrupted by mental illness the opportunity to recover meaningful and productive lives through reintegration in the workplace and the community.
Filed under Evidence-Based Practice, Community / Public Safety, Children, Urban
Goal: The WalkSafe program was developed to improve pediatric pedestrian safety, increase physical activity levels by encouraging children to walk to and from school, and improve the walkability in and around elementary schools.
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.