Strategies

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

133 Strategies
Clear all

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

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise
  • Climate

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

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise
  • Climate

Fruit & vegetable taste testing

Offer samples of fresh fruits and vegetables in cafeterias, nutrition classes, school gardens, or workplace well-being meetings, often as part of a multi-faceted nutrition intervention
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise

Gender-affirming care for youth

Provide supportive, gender-affirming care to trans, non-binary, and gender-expansive youth
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices
  • Laws and policies
  • Worldviews, culture and norms

Green House homes

Support self-contained, homelike dwellings for 10-12 elderly adults who require nursing care; universal caregivers, usually CNAs, provide care and other supports while clinical teams visit for specialized care
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

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

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise
  • Civic and community resources
  • Climate

Group prenatal care

Provide prenatal care in a group setting, integrating health assessment, education, and support
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

Health insurance enrollment outreach & support

Provide outreach and support to assist those whose employers do not offer affordable coverage, who are self-employed, or who are unemployed
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices
  • Laws and policies

Health literacy interventions

Increase patients’ health-related knowledge via efforts to simplify health education materials, improve patient-provider communication, and increase overall literacy
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Clinical care

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices

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

Community Conditions

  • Diet and exercise
  • Climate