Strategies

What Works for Health includes evidence-informed strategies to create communities where everyone can thrive.

73 Strategies
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New Hope Project

Provided work supports for low income individuals and families (e.g., job search assistance, transitional jobs, subsidized child care, health insurance, etc.); participants worked at least 30 hours/week

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Income

Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP)

Provide home visiting services to low income, first time mothers and their babies, starting during pregnancy and continuing through a child’s second birthday

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Family and Social Support

Open Streets

Allow community members to gather, socialize, walk, run, bike, skate, etc. on streets temporarily to closed to motorized traffic; also called Ciclovía programs

Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion
  • Diet and Exercise
  • Family and Social Support

Outdoor experiential education

Support outdoor pursuits and adventure-based activities that emphasize inter- and intra-personal growth through overcoming obstacles (e.g., challenge courses, wilderness excursions, etc.)

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Family and Social Support

Participatory budgeting

Engage community members to determine how public budgets are spent, ideally to improve neighborhood conditions and reduce inequality.

Evidence Rating:
Mixed Evidence
  • Family and Social Support

Payday loan regulations

Regulate short-term loans that must be repaid by a borrower’s next pay day via bans, caps on maximum interest rates and loan amounts, or require minimum loan terms and credit cost

Evidence Rating:
Mixed Evidence
  • Income

Public deliberations

Bring people with diverse values and perspectives together to engage in facilitated, inclusive, and informed dialogues about a topic of public concern. Examples include Citizens’ Initiative Reviews, deliberative polling, citizen juries, and citizen’s assemblies.

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Family and Social Support

Public libraries for community building

Lend materials, offer gathering space, and provide educational, civic, and social programming; open to the community and publicly funded

Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion
  • Family and Social Support

Refundable child and dependent care tax credit

Offer a refundable tax credit to working families with qualifying children or other dependents that receive care outside the home (e.g., a spouse with disabilities)

Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion
  • Income

Social media for civic participation

Support individual and group use of internet-based tools to receive news, communicate or share information, collaborate on ideas, mobilize networks, and make collective decisions

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Family and Social Support

Social service integration

Coordinate access to services across delivery systems and disciplinary boundaries (e.g., housing, disability, physical health, mental health, child welfare, workforce services, etc.)

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Family and Social Support

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits

Explore ways to increase Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program benefit amounts for aged, blind, or disabled individuals, including children, with little or no income

Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion
  • Income

Teen pregnancy prevention programs

Support school-, community-, and clinic-based teen pregnancy prevention programs such as comprehensive sex education, HIV/STI prevention and youth development efforts, service learning, etc.

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Sexual Activity

Trauma-informed approaches to community building

Support and strengthen traumatized and distressed residents and communities and address effects of community trauma (e.g., poverty, violence, structural racism, etc.) via a comprehensive, multi-stakeholder, and multilevel approach

Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion
  • Family and Social Support

Unemployment insurance (UI)

Increase compensation provided to unemployed workers looking for jobs by expanding eligibility, amount, or duration of benefits

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Income

Universal basic income

Provide all individuals with regular cash transfers, without conditions, over their lifetimes

Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion
  • Income

Voter registration initiatives

Increase the number of registered voters through initiatives that reduce barriers and expand accessibility, including automatic voter registration (AVR), voter registration drives, easing voter registration requirements, and expanding registration sites

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Family and Social Support

Voter turnout initiatives

Increase voter turnout through get-out-the-vote campaigns and initiatives to make voting more convenient such as allowing early in-person voting, vote-by-mail, or expanding polling locations and hours

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Family and Social Support

Youth civics education

Teach students attitudes, skills, knowledge, and behavior needed to participate in and contribute to a democracy

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Family and Social Support
  • Education

Youth leadership programs

Provide youth with leadership building opportunities, often through social activities such as advocacy groups, peer education, youth-led participatory research, and local government youth advisory councils and boards

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Family and Social Support