Strategies

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

105 Strategies
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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

Community Conditions

  • Civic and community resources

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices
  • Worldviews, culture and norms

Unhealthy snack taxes

Increase the price of snack products high in sugar and fat by adding an excise or sales tax
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Urban agriculture

Support food-producing and income-earning activities in urban environments (e.g., edible landscapes, front yard or rooftop gardens, window farming, hydroponics, livestock, etc.)
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise
  • Climate
  • Civic and community resources

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

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

Community Conditions

  • Civic and community resources

Societal Rules

  • Governance

Walking school buses

Arrange active transportation with a fixed route, designated stops, and pick up times when children can walk to school with adult chaperones
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Housing and transportation
  • Diet and exercise
  • Climate

Water availability & promotion interventions

Make water readily available in various settings via regular placement of drinking fountains, water coolers, bottled water in vending machines, etc.
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise

WIC & Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Programs

Support Farmers’ Market Nutrition Programs, which provide WIC and Senior Nutrition Program participants with vouchers for fresh, unprepared, locally grown fruits and vegetables
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise

Workplace supports for breastfeeding

Support breastfeeding via private, well-equipped lactation spaces in workplaces, along with breastfeeding breaks, flexible schedules, professional lactation support, etc.
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Income, employment and wealth
  • Diet and exercise

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices

Worksite obesity prevention interventions

Use educational, environmental, and behavioral strategies to improve food choices and physical activity opportunities in worksite settings, also called workplace health programs
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise