Strategies

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

115 Strategies
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College access programs

Help high school students prepare for college, complete applications, and enroll, especially first-generation applicants and students from families with low incomes
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Education

Community policing

Implement a policing philosophy based on community partnership, organizational transformation, and problem-solving techniques to proactively address public safety issues: also called community-oriented policing
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices

Community schools

Combine academic, mental and physical health, and social service resources in schools for students and families via partnerships with community organizations; also called community learning centers
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Education

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices

Comprehensive school reform

Implement a coordinated effort to overhaul school operation, integrating curriculum, instruction, professional development, parent involvement, classroom and school management; also called school-wide or whole school reform
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Education

Societal Rules

  • Institutional practices

Court mandated programs for perpetrators of intimate partner violence

Expand court-referred intimate partner violence offenders’ understanding of abuse, teach alternative reactions, and work to change gender role attitudes; also called batterer intervention programs (BIPs)
Evidence Rating:
Mixed Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support

Societal Rules

  • Laws and policies

Crisis lines

Provide free and confidential counseling and service referrals via telephone-based conversation, web-based chat, or text message to individuals in crisis, particularly those with severe mental health concerns
Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support

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

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support
  • Civic and community resources

Cure Violence model

Use a public health approach to detect and intervene in potentially violent situations, educate and mobilize communities, and connect individuals at high risk of violence to services; formerly called Chicago CeaseFire
Evidence Rating:
Mixed Evidence

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support

DARE to be You

Provide education and training sessions with parent-child activities and family meals for youth, parents, and care providers
Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion

Community Conditions

  • Education
  • Safety and social support

Early childhood home visiting programs

Provide at-risk expectant parents and families with young children with information, support, and training regarding child health, development, and care from prenatal stages through early childhood via trained home visitors
Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported

Community Conditions

  • Safety and social support