The idea behind evidence-based practice (EBP) is to invest resources and energy in programs, services, and policies that have empirical evidence demonstrating they work. Increasingly, funders are encouraging grantees to use evidence-based approaches. The federal Promise Neighborhoods program exemplifies this shift.

In describing what a planning grant applicant must include in a proposal to develop a continuum of cradle-to-college solutions, the Notice Inviting Applications (NIA) makes several references to the evidence base. Applicants must:

• Propose solutions based on the best available evidence including, where available,strong or moderate evidence; and
• Describe the evidence supporting each proposed solution.