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Section 6. Promoting the Adoption and Use of Best Practices

What is a best practice?

A best practice is:

___Measurable

___Notably successful

___Replicable

___A good fit for your circumstances

Why promote the adoption and use of best practices?

___Using a recognized best practice makes it easier to justify the work.

___Using recognized best practices can bolster the credibility of an organization.

___Using best practices can make it easier to get funding.

___Using a best practice removes a lot of the guesswork from planning.

___The originators of the practice are known, and might be available to consult on how to best implement it.

___We know that best practices work.

When should you promote the adoption and use of best practices?

___When a new intervention or program is starting up.

___When what’s being done isn’t working.

___When there’s a serious community problem that has to be tackled.

___When the community demands it.

___When funders or officials demand it.

Who should be involved in promoting the adoption and use of best practices?

___Practitioners – health and human service workers, community developers, etc.

___Members of the population that will participate in or benefit from the best practices in question.

___Those who’ll be indirectly affected by the program.

___Interested community members.

___Local and, if appropriate, state officials.

Where do you find best practices?

___On the Internet.

___By networking.

___In libraries.

___Through national advocacy and professional organizations and their journals.

___Through international, state, and federal agencies.

___Through foundations and other funders.

___In academia.

___Through community word of mouth.

How do you promote the adoption and use of best practices?

___Define your issue, needs, and goals clearly, so that you can determine exactly what kind of best practice you’re seeking.

___Search for appropriate best practices.

You promote the use and implementation of best practices by:

___Mobilizing community opinion.

___Alerting funders to best practice possibilities.

___Bringing some of the people who originated or who use appropriate practices together with people in your community.

___Suggesting that, rather than substituting a best practice for what it is already doing, an organization or group simply add it, or try it out.

___Ensuring that anyone involved in trying to replicate a best practice is provided with the training to make it successful.

___Providing those who’ll implement best practices with the necessary support and resources.

___Continuing to make the best better, and maintaining the community’s commitment to best practices.