Strategies

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

30 Strategies
Clear all

Grocery, housing & utilities cooperatives

Establish a non-share capital cooperative model in which fee-paying members can share the communal resources of a grocery, house, or utility cooperative

Evidence Rating:
Insufficient Evidence
  • Family and Social Support

Land return for tribal restitution

Return the rights to land, property, and resources to Native people as part of policies and initiatives that promote tribal sovereignty

Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion
  • Income
  • Family and Social Support

Neighborhood associations

Establish voluntary formal groups of residents who work together to create a unified voice, enhance living conditions in their neighborhood, and address neighborhood concerns

Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion
  • 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

Out of town bypasses

Establish roads that avoid built-up areas such as towns, cities, or commercial/business districts

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Housing and Transit
  • Community Safety

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

Primary seat belt enforcement laws

Allow law enforcement officials to stop drivers solely for failing to use a seat belt

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Community Safety

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

Rollover protective structures (ROPS)

Attach metal bars, frames, or crush proof cabs to a tractor that provide a safety zone for an operator in the event of a rollover or overturn

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Community Safety