Submit your email address to get updates on The Community Guide topics of interest.

The Community Guide in Action: Stories from the Field

Community Guide in Action stories – ready-to-print and, in some cases, video versions – feature decision-makers, program planners, employers, and leaders from across the country who have used The Community Guide to make people safer and healthier. Use the stories in presentations, as handouts, or link to .PDF or video versions from emails or websites. [Written stories are designed to print front-and-back, head-to-head in color, on white 8.5" x 11" paper.]

Stories listed by location and public health topics

We welcome your comments. Contact Us to let us know how you use these stories. We also encourage you to send us your own Community Guide in Action stories!

The hands of three women, one White and two African American, are stacked on top of each other; each wrist has a bracelet made from black coral.

Black Corals: A Gem of a Cancer Screening Program in South Carolina
In rural South Carolina, where many African American women have limited access to lifesaving medical screenings, the risk of cancer-related death is a complex public health problem. The St. James-Santee Family Health Center launched Black Corals to increase cancer screening among women. The Community Guide served as a resource to help the Black Corals program dramatically increase breast and cervical cancer screenings in their community.
(Video – 10:21)

Blueprint for Success in Reducing Tobacco Use
The City of Lincoln and Lancaster County, Nebraska used Community Guide recommendations to build a plan to decrease tobacco use. Their step-by-step approach led to substantial reductions in tobacco use in their county, 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.

Photo of high school cheerleaders holding banner at football game that reads "Jefferson Tigers Be a Champion - Be Tobacco Free SWAT SWAT SWAT."

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 the tide of death and disability caused by tobacco. Evidence-based interventions, like the ones found in The Community Guide, were implemented across the state and led to substantial reductions in tobacco use and personal health care expenditures.

A woman, a man, and a large dog walk on a trail separated from the road by a wide strip of grass.

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.
(Video – 8:55)

A healthcare provider gives an older woman a shot in the arm.

An Evidence-Based Approach to Montana's Health Landscape
The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services turns to The Community Guide as a primary resource for program planning, funding applications, and partner collaboration, and has used Task Force findings to develop programs aimed at increasing vaccinations, reducing tobacco use, and controlling asthma.

A boy jumps and shoots a basketball toward a hoop that is attached to a small billboard that reads, "do > play" across the top and across the bottom, "Groove your body 10 minutes 3 times a day."

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.

A Good Shot: Reaching Immunization Targets in Duval County
The Duval County Health Department in Jacksonville, Florida was challenged with low childhood immunization rates, particularly in its urban core. By implementing a quality improvement strategy that combined multiple Community Guide recommendations, they reached the national target within one year.

A woman uses tongs to put food from a salad bar onto her plate.

Investing in Worksite Wellness for Employees
The Dow Chemical Company's health promotion program is part of an integrated health strategy to improve the health of its 52,000 employees around the world. Dow uses The Community Guide as a resource to shape these programs and address chronic disease risk factors such as obesity, physical activity, and tobacco use among its employees.

Five empty, green glass bottles are lined up; behind them a toy police car and toy convertible car face each other.

Lowering Legal Blood Alcohol Limits Saves Lives
A team of experts used The Community Guide's systematic review process to examine the effectiveness of lowering the illegal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit for automobile drivers. The results of this assessment formed the basis for the independent Community Preventive Services Task Force (Task Force) recommendation that 0.08 percent BAC laws are effective in reducing alcohol-related motor vehicle fatalities. In October 2000, the President signed the transportation appropriations bill requiring states to pass the 0.08% BAC law by October 2003 or risk losing federal highway construction funds.

A woman wearing a head set sits at her desk on a large exercise ball while reading the contents of a file.

Maryland Businesses Support Worksite Wellness Effort to Combat Chronic Disease
The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene launched an initiative to decrease obesity and diabetes by promoting wellness at worksites across the state. They used The Community Guide as a resource to assess and influence changes in employees' health. As a result, more than 150 businesses made a commitment to workplace wellness options for more than 180,000 employees.

Three children walk on a balance beam, their arms spread wide for balance.

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 an action strategy centered on behavioral, social, and environmental change, as well as an evidence-based approach to strengthen grant applications. This strategy helped Western Maryland Health System secure funding and multiply partnerships.

Two cyclists wearing helmets bicycle on a paved path parallel to the ocean.

Planning a Strategy: Changing the Way a County Health Department Addresses Health Conditions
Los Angeles County ranges from densely urban to sparsely rural, and includes extensive racial, cultural, linguistic, and socioeconomic diversity. LA 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 (STIs), heart disease, tobacco use, and other preventable diseases.

Two women stand around a metal table in a commercial kitchen preparing small bags of healthy snacks, including carrots, celery and craisins

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.

A blue banner is attached to the fence of a strip mall parking lot. The text reads, "HELP CENTRAL AVE. GO BLUE" in the upper left corner. Below that is a checklist with, "FREE colorectal cancer screening for uninsured aged 50+ (Treatment available – further eligibility rules apply), EASY take-home kits, CALL (518) 454-4055 for details" In the upper right corner, there is a design element with text, "MAIN STREETS BLUE 50"

Screening New Yorkers to Save Lives
The New York State Department of Health's Cancer Services Program provides breast, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening to uninsured and underinsured men and women throughout New York State. They used The Community Guide as a resource to increase participation in these services, as well as to educate partners, community providers, local health departments, and community-based organizations about what works to increase cancer screenings.