Strategies: Civic Health

Evidence-informed strategies to strengthen opportunities for people to participate in their community. These solutions focus on civic infrastructure, or the spaces and policies that facilitate connection and make civic participation possible. 

44 Strategies

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

Community Conditions

  • Civic and community resources

Societal Rules

  • Governance

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

Community Conditions

  • Civic and community resources

Public transportation systems

Introduce or expand transportation options that are available to the public and run on a scheduled timetable (e.g., buses, trains, ferries, rapid transit, etc.)
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Housing and transportation
  • Civic and community resources
  • Climate

Societal Rules

  • Budgets
  • Worldviews, culture and norms

Reparations for Black descendants of people enslaved in the U.S.

Apologize for the history and legacy of slavery and provide direct payments or community investments to Black descendants of people enslaved in the U.S.
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Income, employment and wealth
  • Civic and community resources

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies
  • Worldviews, culture and norms

Shared use agreements

Create contracts that support community access to existing public, private, or nonprofit facilities before or after business hours; also called joint use, open use, or community use agreements
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise
  • Civic and community resources

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices

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

Community Conditions

  • Civic and community resources

Transitional and subsidized jobs

Establish time-limited, subsidized, paid jobs to help individuals with barriers to employment transition to unsubsidized employment
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Income, employment and wealth

Trauma-informed approaches to community building

Support and strengthen residents and communities who have experienced trauma 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

Community Conditions

  • Civic and community resources

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices
  • Worldviews, culture and norms

Universal basic income

Provide all individuals with regular cash transfers, without conditions, over their lifetimes
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Income, employment and wealth

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies
  • Worldviews, culture and norms

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

Community Conditions

  • Civic and community resources

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies
  • Governance