Strategies

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

21 Strategies matching Mental Health
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Carpool & rideshare programs

Help participants share transportation via informal arrangements between individuals, formally arranged ridesharing programs, or other ride-matching services
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Air, water and land
  • Housing and transportation
  • Climate

Child development accounts

Build assets through child development accounts (CDAs) with contributions from a sponsoring organization, such as government agencies or nonprofits, and family, friends; also called children’s savings accounts (CSAs)
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Income, employment and wealth
  • Education

Societal Rules

  • Budgets

Community arts programs

Support locally-based visual, media, and performing arts initiatives for children and adults; also called participatory arts programs
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Civic and community resources

Community centers

Provide space to promote socializing among community members and offer programs and services such as recreational or educational activities, counseling or support services
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Civic and community resources

Community organizing in public health

Advance public health by using community organizing methods, such as developing leadership, campaigning, and building power to influence decisions, agendas, and worldviews, by collaborating with community organizing groups to use these methods, or both
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Civic and community resources

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Court mandated programs for perpetrators of intimate partner violence

Expand court-referred intimate partner violence offenders’ understanding of abuse, teach alternative reactions, and work to change gender role attitudes; also called batterer intervention programs (BIPs)
Evidence Rating:
Mixed Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Cure Violence model

Use a public health approach to detect and intervene in potentially violent situations, educate and mobilize communities, and connect individuals at high risk of violence to services; formerly called Chicago CeaseFire
Evidence Rating:
Mixed Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support

Housing reparations

Apologize for discriminatory housing policies; increase subsidies, financing, and paths to homeownership for people of color; and invest in systematically disadvantaged neighborhoods
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Income, employment and wealth
  • Housing and transportation
  • Civic and community resources

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies
  • Worldviews, culture and norms

Intergenerational communities

Establish policies, plans, and programs that meet the needs of all residents of a community, especially children and older adults, and promote interaction and cooperation between individuals of different generations
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support
  • Civic and community resources

Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)

Provide funds to households with low incomes to meet home energy needs, especially for households with children, older adults, or individuals with disabilities
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Housing and transportation

Societal Rules

  • Budgets