Strategies

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

Activity programs for older adults

Offer group educational, social, creative, musical, or physical activities that promote social interactions, regular attendance, and community involvement among older adults

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Behavioral interventions to prevent HIV and other STIs

Use individual-, group-, and community-level interventions to provide education, support, and training that can affect social norms about HIV and other STIs

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Broadband initiatives for unserved and underserved areas

Expand broadband availability and adoption in unserved and underserved areas through initiatives that address infrastructure and cost barriers

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Clinic-based interventions for human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination

Combine information about HPV and the benefits of vaccination with efforts to support vaccine series completion (e.g., patient and parent education or reminders, physician education, etc.) in clinic-based settings

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

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 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 Development Block Grants (CDBGs)

Provide funding for local community development activities such as affordable housing, anti-poverty programs, and infrastructure development

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Community Development Financial Institutions

Support financial institutions providing services to underserved and disadvantaged communities

Evidence Rating:

Expert Opinion

Community fitness programs

Offer exercise classes (e.g., aerobic dance, yoga, Tai Chi, cycling, etc.) and fitness program support in community, senior, fitness, and community wellness centers

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Community gardens

Establish and support land that is gardened or cultivated by community members via community land trusts, gardening education, zoning regulation changes, or service provision (e.g., water or waste disposal)

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Community kitchens for food processing

Establish shared kitchen spaces that support licensed, commercial food processing and connect specialty food processors, farmers, and others who produce value-added goods

Evidence Rating:

Expert Opinion

Community kitchens for nutrition education

Use existing kitchen spaces for community members to share knowledge, resources, and labor to prepare, cook, and consume food, often with nutrition education provided for participants experiencing food insecurity

Evidence Rating:

Insufficient Evidence

Community land trusts

Purchase the land a home is on to lease to homeowners with low and middle incomes and require homeowners to sell the home back to the trust or to another resident with low income upon moving

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

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 supported agriculture (CSA)

Establish partnerships between farmers and consumers in which consumers purchase a share of a farm’s products in advance

Evidence Rating:

Expert Opinion

Community-based interventions for human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination

Support HPV vaccination through multi-component community interventions, including education, outreach, navigation support, and vaccine provision

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Complete Streets & streetscape design initiatives

Enhance streetscapes with greater sidewalk coverage and walkway connectivity, street crossing safety features, traffic calming measures, and other design elements

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Comprehensive clinic-based programs for pregnant & parenting teens

Address the needs of teenage parents via clinic-based programs that provide health care and family planning services as well as case management, counseling, and other supports

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Comprehensive risk reduction sexual education

Provide information about contraception and protection against sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in classroom or community settings

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Condom availability programs

Provide condoms free of charge or at a reduced cost in community and school-based settings

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Cross-age youth peer mentoring

Establish an ongoing relationship between an older youth or young adult and a younger child or adolescent, usually an elementary or middle school student

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Digital interventions to prevent HIV and other STIs

Provide tailored health information and assistance with decision making, behavior change, and emotional support via digital interactive programs

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Expedited partner therapy for treatable STIs

Provide prescriptions or medications to patients diagnosed with treatable STIs to give to their partners without provider visits; also called patient-delivered partner therapy (PDPT)

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Extracurricular activities for social engagement

Support organized social, art, or physical activities for school-aged youth outside of the school time

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Farmers markets

Support multiple vendor markets where producers sell goods such as fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, dairy items, and prepared foods directly to consumers

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Food buying clubs & co-ops

Offer opportunities for group purchase and distribution of selected grocery items, generally at a reduced price

Evidence Rating:

Expert Opinion

Food hubs

Support businesses or organizations that aggregate, distribute, and market local and regional food products (e.g., fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, dairy, grains, and prepared items)

Evidence Rating:

Expert Opinion

Green space & parks

Increase green space through new parks or open spaces, renovation or enhancement of under-used recreation areas, rehabilitation of vacant lots, brownfields, etc.

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

HIV and STI interventions coordinated with work, vocational training, or sports for youth

Coordinate efforts to reduce risky sexual behavior among adolescents with work, vocational training, or sports

Evidence Rating:

Insufficient Evidence

HIV/STI partner notification by providers

Notify partners exposed to an STI of their risk, encourage testing, and refer to services; also called contact tracing, or partner counseling and referral services

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

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

Housing trust funds

Support funds that help create or maintain affordable housing, subsidize rental housing, and assist homebuyers with low incomes and non-profit housing developers

Evidence Rating:

Expert Opinion

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine education

Inform adolescents, young adults, and parents about HPV and its consequences, as well as the benefits of vaccination, via videos, printed materials, online content, or in-person efforts

Evidence Rating:

Insufficient Evidence

Inclusionary zoning & housing policies

Require developers to reserve a proportion of housing units for residents with low incomes via mandatory requirements or incentives, such as density bonuses

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Intensive case management for pregnant & parenting teens

Provide pregnant or parenting teens with services based upon their needs (e.g., counseling, connections to health care or social services, academic support, etc.) in school or community settings

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

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

Intergenerational mentoring and activities

Establish a relationship between an older adult and a child, adolescent, or college student through social interactions or a variety of educational and art activities

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Labor unions

Organize workers to bargain collectively for improved wages, benefits, and working conditions

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Land banking

Acquire, hold, manage, and develop properties such as vacant lots, abandoned buildings, or foreclosures, and transition them to productive uses, often affordable housing developments

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

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

Long-acting reversible contraception access

Increase access to LARCs through cost reduction, comprehensive birth control counseling, provider training, efforts to ensure availability at local clinics, etc.

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Mass media and social marketing campaigns to prevent HIV and other STIs

Use traditional and digital media to disseminate information about safe sex

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Mixed-use development

Support a combination of land uses (e.g., residential, commercial, recreational) in development initiatives, often through zoning regulations or Smart Growth initiatives

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Mobile produce markets

Support fresh food carts or vehicles that travel to neighborhoods on a set schedule to sell fresh fruits and vegetables

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Multi-component interventions to prevent teen pregnancy

Support initiatives that combine multiple components such as education, skills building, and contraceptive promotion to reduce pregnancy among youth

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

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

New grocery stores in underserved areas

Attract new grocery stores that sell a variety of fresh foods, baked goods, packaged, and frozen items to underserved areas via financing initiatives, tax incentives, or zoning regulation

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Open gym time

Offer time during the school day for children to play in the gym, often during lunch period; shared use agreements can expand open gym opportunities to community members outside school hours

Evidence Rating:

Expert Opinion

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

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

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