In 2007 the Holyoke Food & Fitness Policy Council (HFFPC), with funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, set out to create a more healthy and vibrant Holyoke by developing policies and system changes that improve opportunities for healthy eating and physical activity.

Believed to be the first ordinance of its kind, Chicago's legislation to limit restrictive land-use covenants prevents supermarkets and drugstores from restricting future use of vacated property in the event of store closures. This ordinance holds great promise to prevent neighborhood blight and promote residents' continued access to fresh, healthy food retailers.

In 1990, the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority (NRHA) began to redevelop Diggs Town, a large low-income public housing project in Norfolk, Virginia. The Diggs Town Public Housing Redevelopment Project improved public safety, fostered a sense of pride in common spaces, and integrated social services into the community.

An award-winning initiative, the Shreveport/Bossier Community Renewal (SBCR) is an effort to rebuild the social bonds within the Shreveport region of Louisiana, a low-income area with high crime rates.

LIFETIME is a non-profit organization based in Oakland, California that assists single mothers on welfare to obtain higher education and remain off of welfare and out of poverty permanently.

In the rural town of Woodburn, Oregon with a more than 50% Latino population, the farmworkers union has developed a strong organizing and advocacy history on labor and housing issues. Now, through its 5,700+ members, the farmworkers, spouses, and children are also addressing healthy food access and physical activity to help local residents eat better and move more.

Initiated in 1998 by The Center for Community Solutions and United Way of Greater Cleveland, the Social Indicators Project includes a six-volume series of reports outlining the social and health trends of the eight-county Northeast Ohio area.

Alameda County, California experiences severe disparities in health outcomes and related disparities in education, poverty level, and housing. The depth of these disparities was first documented in the Alameda County Health Status Report (CHSR) 2000, and reiterated in the subsequent 2003 and 2006 Status Reports. Data from the CHSRs have sparked debate among residents and policy makers, and guided the Alameda County Public Health Department leadership to accelerate conversations about broadening the department's efforts to work more closely with community partners to address the social conditions that create health inequities. Funding for this report was provided by Public Health Foundation.

In King County, Washington, the Community Counts Partnership led a community-driven process to select health indicators that reflect the social determinants affecting community members

In Western New York State's Monroe County, like in other New York counties, the rate of childhood lead poisoning was alarming, especially among low-income children. In response, the Coalition to Prevent Childhood Lead Poisoning was established in 2000 with a mission to "end childhood lead poisoning in Monroe County in 2010". Recognized by then-U.S. Senator Hilary Rodham Clinton as a "national model" for reducing childhood lead poisoning, the county coalition's efforts have cut childhood lead poisoning rates by 72% in eight years.