Strategies

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

22 Strategies matching mental health

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

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

Community Conditions

  • Housing and transportation
  • Air, water and land
  • Civic and community resources

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

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

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

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support
  • Civic and community resources

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

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise
  • Civic and community resources

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

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support
  • Civic and community resources

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

Recreational sports leagues for adults

Offer opportunities for adults to play athletic games such as soccer, softball, kickball, basketball, etc. at beginner, intermediate, and competitive levels
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise
  • Civic and community resources

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

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