Strategies

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

Adult vocational training

Support acquisition of job-specific skills through education, certification programs, or on-the-job training, often with personal development resources and other supports

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

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

Baby bonds

Establish publicly funded investment accounts for every newborn, accessible at age 18

Evidence Rating:

Expert Opinion

Ban the Box

Prohibit criminal history questions on job applications and postpone background checks

Evidence Rating:

Mixed Evidence

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

Bridge programs for hard-to-employ adults

Provide basic skills (e.g., reading, math, writing, English language, or soft skills) and industry-specific training with other supports; also called occupationally contextualized basic education programs

Evidence Rating:

Expert Opinion

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

Career pathways programs

Provide occupation-specific training for low-skilled individuals in high-growth industries, with education and supports, usually with stackable credentials and work experience opportunities

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

Certificates of employability

Issue certificates of employability to individuals with criminal convictions who have met pre-specified standards of rehabilitation; also called certificates of relief, reentry, good conduct, rehabilitation, recovery, etc.

Evidence Rating:

Expert Opinion

Child care subsidies

Provide financial assistance to working parents, or parents attending school, to pay for child care

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Child development accounts

Build assets through child development accounts (CDAs) with contributions from a sponsoring organization, such as government agencies or nonprofits, and family, friends; also called children’s savings accounts (CSAs)

Evidence Rating:

Expert Opinion

Child tax credit expansion

Expand federal or state child tax credits by increasing credit amounts, making credits refundable, decreasing or eliminating the earnings threshold, or creating a fully refundable supplement

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 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

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

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

Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)

Expand refundable earned income tax credits for working individuals and families with low to moderate incomes

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Employee Assistance Programs (EAP)

Provide confidential worksite-based counseling and referrals to employees to address personal and workplace challenges

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Financial education for adults

Provide education on basic budgeting, bank use, credit management, bankruptcy, credit building and counseling, homeownership, retirement, divorce, etc.

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Flexible scheduling

Offer employees control over an aspect of their schedule through arrangements such as flex time, flex hours, compressed work weeks, or self-scheduled shift work

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

Full child support pass-through and disregard

Adopt policies that allow custodial parents who receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) to collect all child support paid by the non-custodial parent; no portion is retained by the state

Evidence Rating:

Scientifically Supported

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

High school equivalency credentials

Offer programs to help individuals without a high school diploma or its equivalent achieve a high school equivalency credential

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

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 Development Accounts (IDAs)

Support subsidized asset accumulation programs in which deposits by participants with low and moderate incomes are matched by program sponsors; withdrawals must be used for qualified expenses to retain matching funds

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

Job-sharing programs

Offer flexible working arrangements, allowing the duties of a single full-time position to be covered by two part-time employees

Evidence Rating:

Insufficient 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

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

Living wage laws

Establish locally mandated wages that are higher than state or federal minimum wage levels

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

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

Matched dollar incentives for saving tax refunds

Support programs that provide matched dollar incentives for low or moderate income individuals to place some or all of their tax refund in a savings account

Evidence Rating:

Some Evidence

Microfinance & microenterprise

Support programs that provide small loans, usually to individuals with lower incomes, to start or expand a small business, often with business development training and other technical assistance

Evidence Rating:

Expert Opinion

Minimum wage increases

Increase the lowest hourly, daily, or monthly compensation that employers may legally pay to workers

Evidence Rating:

Mixed Evidence

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