Strategies

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

Alternative fuels initiatives

Support alternative fuel and vehicle use via financial incentives (e.g., tax benefits, rebates, etc.), mandates (e.g., consumption targets or renewable fuel standards), research and development investments, etc.

Evidence Rating:

Expert Opinion

Automated speed enforcement cameras

Use devices such as speed cameras, laser devices, radar, etc. to enforce speed limits; devices can be permanent fixtures or be used manually by law enforcement officers

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Bicycle & pedestrian master plans

Establish a framework to increase walking and biking trails and improve connectivity of non-auto paths and trails in a particular area

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Bicycle infrastructure for enhanced cycling safety

Accommodate or provide dedicated infrastructure for cyclists via bicycle paths, lanes, cycle tracks or protected lanes, etc.

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

CAFO regulations

Establish local regulations for confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) that address location, size, facility management, and pollution contributions to complement U.S. EPA regulations

Evidence Rating:

Expert Opinion

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

Clean diesel technology fleet transition programs

Replace or retrofit diesel buses or other vehicles to operate with clean diesel technology

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

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 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 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 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

Competitive pricing for healthy foods

Assign higher costs to non-nutritious foods than nutritious foods via incentives, subsidies, or price discounts for healthy foods and beverages or disincentives or price increases for unhealthy choices

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

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

Composting

Use aerobic, natural decomposition to divert food and yard waste from landfills and create a nutrient-rich soil amendment product on an individual or large scale

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Conservation tillage practices

Encourage methods of soil cultivation that keep at least one-third of cultivated soil covered with the previous year’s crop residue (e.g., mulch till, ridge till, strip till, or no-till)

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Debt advice for tenants with unpaid rent

Offer debt advice from trained providers to tenants with unpaid, overdue rent to help repay debt and increase financial literacy

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Electric vehicle initiatives

Replace internal combustion engine vehicles with all-electric vehicles through financial incentives, regulations, and multi-component initiatives

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Farm to school programs

Incorporate locally grown foods into school meals and snacks, often with visits from food producers, cooking classes, nutrition and waste reduction efforts, and school gardens

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

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

Fruit & vegetable gleaning initiatives

Gather food left in fields after a primary harvest, food in fields where harvesting is not profitable, or excess produce from orchards, packing houses, urban agriculture sites, etc.

Evidence Rating:

Expert Opinion

Fruit & vegetable incentive programs

Offer participants with low incomes matching funds to purchase healthy foods, especially fresh fruits and vegetables; often called bonus dollars, market bucks, produce coupons, or nutrition incentives

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

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

Healthy food in convenience stores

Encourage convenience stores, corner stores, or gas station markets to carry fresh produce and other healthier food options

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Healthy food initiatives in food pantries

Combine hunger relief efforts with nutrition information and healthy eating opportunities, often with on-site cooking demonstrations, recipe tastings, produce display stands, etc.

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Healthy home environment assessments

Train volunteers, professionals, or paraprofessionals to help residents assess and reduce environmental home health risks and recommend low cost changes (e.g., improved ventilation, integrated pest management, etc.)

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Healthy school lunch initiatives

Modify the school lunch food environment or school lunch schedules by increasing the convenience of healthy foods, providing healthy options, or ensuring students have enough time to eat

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

HOME Investment Partnership Program

Provide grants to states and localities to fund activities that build, buy, or rehabilitate affordable housing for rent or homeownership, or provide direct rental assistance to households with low incomes

Evidence Rating:

Expert Opinion

Household lead control education interventions

Inform parents and caregivers about lead exposure pathways from contaminated dust, soil, water, and air as well as the irreversible health consequences of lead exposure

Evidence Rating:

Evidence of Ineffectiveness

Housing Choice Voucher Program (Section 8)

Provide eligible families with low and very low incomes with vouchers to help cover the costs of rental housing; also called Section 8

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Housing First

Provide rapid access to permanent housing and support (e.g., crisis intervention, needs assessment, case management), usually for chronically homeless individuals with persistent mental illness or substance abuse issues

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Housing mediation services

Facilitate mediation between tenants and landlords to resolve conflict and prevent eviction

Evidence Rating:

Insufficient Evidence

Housing rehabilitation loan & grant programs

Provide funding, primarily to families with low or middle incomes, to repair, improve, or modernize dwellings and remove health or safety hazards

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

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

Individual incentives for public transportation

Offer incentives such as free or discounted bus, rail, or transit passes, reimbursements, partial payments, or pre-tax payroll deductions to encourage individuals’ use of existing public transit

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Integrated pest management for indoor use

Support a four-tiered approach to indoor pest control that minimizes potential hazards to people, property, and the environment

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

Lead paint abatement programs

Eliminate lead-based paint and contaminated dust by removing or encapsulating lead paint, or removing lead painted fixtures and surfaces

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Legal support for tenants in eviction proceedings

Provide legal representation for tenants with low incomes in eviction proceedings or offer limited legal assistance to prepare tenants to represent themselves in court

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

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

Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTCs)

Provide funding via tax credits at the state and local level to support development and rehabilitation costs of low income rental housing

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 workplace supports for active commuting

Provide physical infrastructure (e.g., bike parking or showers), educational or social support (e.g., walking groups), and financial incentives that support active commuting

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Nutrient management plans

Support site-specific plans for crop production that match nutrient applications to crop needs, typically with agricultural best management practices

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

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

Out of town bypasses

Establish roads that avoid built-up areas such as towns, cities, or commercial/business districts

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

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