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.