Tools for Community Action

Community Health Resources Database

Search or browse through the Community Health Resources Database to plan, implement, and evaluate community health interventions and programs that address chronic diseases. Developed by CDC’s Division of Adult and Community Health, the database includes links to hundreds of useful planning guides, evaluation frameworks, communications materials, health risk factors data and statistics, fact sheets, scientific articles, key reports, and state and local program contact information.

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Community Health Assessment aNd Group Evaluation (CHANGE) Tool

The CHANGE tool, developed by CDC’s Healthy Communities Program, provides community leaders with a snapshot of local policy, systems, and environmental change strategies currently in place in their community and identifies areas where such health strategies are lacking. CHANGE assists each community in defining and prioritizing areas for improvement as part of its community action plan. The tool is currently being used by funded communities; a public version will be posted on the Web site in spring 2010 in the form of a CHANGE tool kit, which will give community leaders interested in completing a local assessment detailed directions to follow for implementing CHANGE.

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Action Guides

The Community Health Promotion Handbook: Action Guides to Improve Community Health (2008)

CDC's Healthy Communities Program, in collaboration with Partnership for Prevention^®, has developed step-by-step Action Guides that provide communities with “how-to” guidance for implementing the following five effective community-level health promotion strategies—identified in The Guide to Community Preventive Services—related to diabetes self-management, physical activity, and tobacco-use cessation. 

1. Establishing a Community-Based Diabetes Self-Management Education Program for Adults with Type 2 Diabetes to Improve Glycemic Control.
2. Facilitating Development of a Community Trail and Promoting Its Use to Increase Physical Activity Among Youth and Adults.
3. Working with Schools to Increase Physical Activity Among Children and Adolescents in Physical Education Classes.
4. Establishing a Community-Based Walking Group Program to Increase Physical Activity Among Youth and Adults.
5. Working with Healthcare Delivery Systems to Improve the Delivery of Tobacco-Use Treatment to Patients.
   

 

Promoting Health Equity: A Resource to Help Communities Address Social Determinants of Health (2008)

This action guide is for public health practitioners and partners interested in developing interventions to increase health equity in their communities. The guide reflects the views of experts from multiple arenas, including local community leadership, public health, medicine, social work, sociology, psychology, urban planning, community economic development, environmental sciences, and housing. Promoting Health Equity, produced by CDC's Community Health and Program Services Branch, builds on existing resources, provides additional information and tools, and highlights lessons learned by communities in their efforts to develop, implement, and evaluate local interventions that address social determinants of health equity.

Media Access Guide: A Resource for Community Health Promotion (2008) [PDF–1.5MB]

This action guide, produced by CDC's Healthy Communities Program, is designed to assist communities with developing effective working relationships with the media and gaining valuable news coverage for health-related issues. Topic sections include instructions, tips, and templates for writing press releases, media advisories, and other media-related materials; methods for monitoring media coverage; and strategies for placing public service announcements (PSAs) and hosting press conferences.

 

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Physical Activity and Nutrition Strategies and Measurements

CDC’s MMWR report Recommended Community Strategies and Measurements to Prevent Obesity in the United States (2009) contains 24 recommended obesity prevention strategies focusing on environmental- and policy-level changes that can be implemented by local governments and school districts to promote healthy eating and active living. A detailed Implementation and Measurement Guide (2009) [PDF-2.6MB] was developed by the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Obesity to assist local governments, states, and policy makers with implementing these obesity prevention strategies and reporting on the associated measurements. The guide includes measurement data protocols, a listing of useful resources, and examples of communities that successfully implemented each obesity prevention strategy.

 

  One or more documents on this Web page is available in Portable Document Format (PDF). You will need Acrobat Reader (a free application) to view and print these documents.