Strategies

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

33 Strategies
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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
  • Air and Water Quality
  • Housing and Transit

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
  • Income
  • Education

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
  • Education

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
  • Air and Water Quality

Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP)

Support the federal-state partnership that pays participating landowners an annual rental rate for removing environmentally sensitive land from production and introducing conservation practices on the land.

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Air and Water Quality

Dropout prevention programs for teen mothers

Provide teen mothers with services such as remedial education, vocational training, case management, health care, child care, and transportation assistance to support high school completion

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Education

Early Head Start (EHS)

Provide child care, parent education, physical health and mental health services, and other family supports to pregnant women and parents with low incomes and children aged 0 to 3

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Education

Electric vehicle initiatives

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

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Air and Water Quality

Household lead control education interventions

Inform parents about lead exposure pathways and cleaning and hygiene techniques and undertake minor repairs or specialized cleaning

Evidence Rating:
Evidence of Ineffectiveness
  • Housing and Transit

Housing mediation services

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

Evidence Rating:
Insufficient Evidence
  • Housing and Transit

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
  • Housing and Transit

Later middle and high school start times

Delay school start times for middle and high schools to better align with adolescent sleep-wake cycles; often until after 8:30 or 9:00 a.m.

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Education

Lead contaminated soil abatement

Clean, remove, replace, or cover lead contaminated soil with non-contaminated soil, mulch, sod, grass, or concrete

Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion
  • Air and Water Quality

Lead pipe & plumbing material replacement

Replace lead plumbing material such as pipes, service lines, fittings, solder, flux, and fixtures with non-lead plumbing material

Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion
  • Air and Water Quality

Parents as Teachers (PAT)

Support home visits that teach parents about early childhood development and effective parenting strategies, with child development screenings, parental meetings, and links to community resources

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Education

Permeable pavement projects

Use pervious concrete, porous asphalt, permeable interlocking pavers, open-jointed blocks or cells, or other permeable pavement in individual or commercial development efforts; also called porous or pervious pavement

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Air and Water Quality

Preschool education programs

Provide center-based programs that support cognitive and social-emotional growth among children who are not old enough to enter formal schooling

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Education

Proper drug disposal programs

Establish programs that accept expired, unwanted, or unused medicines from designated users and dispose of them responsibly

Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion
  • Alcohol and Drug Use
  • Air and Water Quality

Radon mitigation programs

Prevent radon from entering occupied buildings and reduce existing indoor air radon levels via soil depressurization, home or room pressurization, heat recovery ventilation, etc.

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Housing and Transit

Rain barrels

Use ready-made or home constructed barrel systems to collect and store rainwater from rooftops that would otherwise flow to storm drains and streams

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Air and Water Quality

Rain gardens & other bioretention systems

Establish bioretention systems (e.g., rain gardens, bioretention cells, green roofs, planter boxes, bioswales, etc.) to make city landscapes more permeable to help control stormwater

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Air and Water Quality

Reach Out and Read

Partner with doctors, nurse practitioners, and other medical professionals to incorporate literacy support into regular well-child visits, especially in lower income communities

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Education

School-based health centers

Provide health care services on school premises to attending elementary, middle, and high school students; physical and mental health services provided by teams of nurses, nurse practitioners, and physicians

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Education
  • Access to Care

Secondhand smoke education interventions

Use counseling, informational materials, etc. to inform smokers and non-smokers of the harms of secondhand smoke and encourage them to implement home smoking bans

Evidence Rating:
Mixed Evidence
  • Tobacco Use

Service-enriched housing

Provide permanent, basic rental housing with social services available on-site or by referral, usually for families with low incomes, older adults, veterans, or people with disabilities

Evidence Rating:
Some Evidence
  • Housing and Transit

Smoke-free policies for multi-unit housing

Implement private sector rules or public sector regulations that prohibit smoking in and around multi-unit housing

Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion
  • Tobacco Use

Tax increment financing (TIF) for affordable housing

Create designated tax districts that generate revenue to invest in affordable housing initiatives, blight remediation, and economic development efforts

Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion
  • Housing and Transit

Tobacco cessation therapy affordability

Reduce patients’ out-of-pocket costs for tobacco cessation therapies such as nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and cessation counseling participation

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Tobacco Use

Tobacco retailer location restrictions

Set the number, type, proximity, and density of tobacco retailers, especially near homes and schools, via state or local zoning, licensing restrictions, or other regulations

Evidence Rating:
Expert Opinion
  • Tobacco Use

Walking school buses

Arrange active transportation with a fixed route, designated stops, and pick up times when children can walk to school with adult chaperones

Evidence Rating:
Scientifically Supported
  • Housing and Transit
  • Diet and Exercise