The Community Guide in Action

AMIGAS: Promoting Cervical Cancer Screening among Hispanic Women

The AMIGAS program engaged community health workers, or promotoras, to deliver a multicomponent intervention that doubled the rate of cervical cancer screening among Mexican-American women in Texas and Washington. Community Preventive Services Task Force recommendations were used to inform the selection of program components which included one-on-one education and small media. (Released 2018)

At MD Anderson, Wellness Starts in the Neighborhood

MD Anderson Cancer Center wanted to create an employee wellness program for the nearly 20,000 employees spread across its massive Houston campus. The center’s former wellness officer, William B. Baun, EPD, CWP, FAWHP, used evidence-based approaches from the Guide to Community Preventive Services to develop tailored wellness programs for each “neighborhood” in the campus. These programs included Be Well stations with workout equipment and social support interventions. Employee buy-in and neighborhood ownership made a big difference in creating culture change with a focus in employee wellness. (Released 2017)

Blueprint for Success in Reducing Tobacco Use

The City of Lincoln and Lancaster County, Nebraska used Community Guide recommendations to build a plan to lessen tobacco use. Their approach led to county-wide reductions in tobacco use, and led to the state's decision to model their smoking ban on the one developed by the City of Lincoln, and eventually, to monumental state-wide policy changes. (Released 2012)

Championing Worksite Wellness in Green Bay: Using Evidence-Based Recommendations to Improve Employee Health

The City of Green Bay’s employee wellness program, Health|1265, used a combination of strategies including Move with the Mayor™, which is based on CPSTF recommendations, to support and improve employee health. As a result, the City of Green Bay’s employees have taken nearly 700 million steps together and the city has saved $1M and experienced a 30% decrease in employee hospitalization. Green Bay’s Mayor Genrich is working to spread the success of Health|1265 program to the entire city using CPSTF recommendations for built environments and active travel to school. (Released 2020)

Community Cancer Screening Program: Implementing Interventions to Address Disparities

The Cancer Coalition of South Georgia used recommendations from The Community Guide to reduce cancer-related disparities in a largely rural, medically underserved region in the state. The Community Cancer Screening Program™ started as a pilot program and now serves more than 25 counties in southern Georgia. (Released 2015)

Community-Wide Effort to Make Florida Tobacco Free

Florida public health practitioners, community advocates, and residents joined forces to change state policy in order to stem tobacco related health issues. Evidence-based interventions, like the ones found in The Community Guide, were applied across the state and led to substantial reductions in tobacco use and personal health care expenditures. (Released 2012)

Creating Walkable Communities in Rural North Carolina

Granville County, North Carolina wanted to reduce the health-related risks associated with obesity by increasing physical activity among residents. Using The Community Guide as a resource, the county created a plan—Granville Greenways Master Plan—to make physical activity more accessible by creating more walkable communities. (Released 2012)

Evidence-Based Recommendations Get Minnesotans in the Groove

As chronic disease weighs on the nation's health, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota has launched a long-term health initiative aimed at getting Minnesotans up, active, and embracing a healthier lifestyle through the use of evidence-based strategies found in The Community Guide. (Released 2012)

Healthy Schools Equal Healthy Kids

The Northern Kentucky Health Department used health-related policy and environmental findings from the Task Force to improve the health of school environments in the region. The health department used the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s School Health Index to measure those improvements. (Released 2015)

It Takes a Village: Rural Residents Help Make Their Community Healthier

Step Into Cuba is a community program to reduce chronic disease and improve the health of residents by increasing physical activity through access to natural environments. The program used Task Force findings to build and improve walking trails throughout the community. (Released 2015)

Maricopa County's Journey Toward Public Health Accreditation

The Maricopa County Department of Public Health serves over 3.8 million people, making it responsible for one of the largest territories of any local health department in the country. In one of their largest improvement efforts yet, they used The Community Guide to identify evidence-based programs, services, and policies in preparation for national public health department accreditation. (Released 2014)

Mobilizing Funding Support to Battle Overweight and Obesity

The Western Maryland Health System used a health strategy that systematically leveraged funding and partnerships as a way to reduce obesity in their region. They used The Community Guide as a resource to develop a strategy centered on behavioral, social, and environmental change, along with evidence-based approach to strengthen grant applications. (Released 2012)

Nevada Lawmakers Expand Full-Day Kindergarten Statewide to Promote Health Equity

Researchers in Nevada used a CPSTF recommendation to inform a health impact assessment that examined the health benefits of providing full-day kindergarten throughout the state. The assessment found that increasing access to full-day kindergarten improves test scores, access to school meals, nutrition education and physical activity. The findings of the assessment led to the universal expansion of full-day kindergarten throughout Nevada. (Released 2019)

Planning a Strategy: Changing the Way a County Health Department Addresses Health Conditions

Los Angeles County Department of Public Health addresses such diverse population health needs by including evidence-based approaches found in The Community Guide as a foundation for its strategic planning. Using evidence has helped them reduce rates of obesity, sexually transmitted infections, heart disease, tobacco use, and more. (Released 2012)

Putting it all Together: Preventing Diabetes with Clinical and Community-Based Evidence

Of the eighty-six million Americans with prediabetes, nine out of 10 don’t know they have it. Prediabetes can lead to heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. The American Medical Association partnered with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2016 to launch the national Prevent Diabetes STAT™ campaign to help manage prediabetes and its associated health risks. Using Task Force recommendations on evidence-based diabetes programs, Prevent Diabetes STAT™ aims to reduce the number of individuals with prediabetes who develop type 2 diabetes. (Released 2017)

Listen to an audio clip (7:21) of Drs. Christopher Holliday and Patrick Remington as they talk with CDC’s Dr. John Anderton about the development of the Prevent Diabetes STAT™ campaign and the benefits of drawing from evidence-based recommendations.

Download transcript [PDF - 170 kB]

Rural Community Works Together to Stay "Fun and Fit"

The tribal communities in rural Hoonah, Alaska used The Community Guide as a resource to help counter the increasing rates of obesity. They partnered with the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services to expand access to places for physical activity and get the community moving. (Released 2012)

The Community Guide in the Classroom: Training Future Professionals

Instructors in public health at three separate universities share how they use The Community Guide in their classrooms. Undergraduate and graduate students from a variety of academic backgrounds learned the importance of using evidence to guide practice and program development. (Released 2015)

Using Innovative Technology to Increase Physical Activity

International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) used Task Force recommendations to help inform the design of its Active Track program. Employees who participate in the program can compete with their peers in activity challenges and earn reward points for their achievements. (Released 2015)