March 2023

Ben Larsen, Aisha Kayed, Gabe Osterhout, Matthew May, Vanessa Fry, Ellen Schafer

The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare has partnered with IPI to evaluate two health media campaigns that have circulated statewide. The first evaluation will consist of a survey of health clinics across Idaho to measure the reach and effectiveness of the Provider Stigma Reduction Campaign. The second evaluation is a survey of Idaho’s general population to measure the reach and effectiveness of the Fentanyl Awareness Campaign. The evaluations will measure the reach and effectiveness of each campaign, as well as general knowledge about the survey topics. 

This month, survey drafts were completed for both the Fentanyl Awareness Survey and Provider Stigma Survey. Each survey consists of three main groups of questions: demographic and screening questions, knowledge of the survey topic, and attitudes of issues relating to the survey topic. The drafts were submitted for feedback from the sponsor. GS Strategies Group’s bid was chosen as the survey vendor. IPI will work with GSSG to refine the survey based on IDHW’s feedback during April.

Digital Access for All Idahoans Planning Support

Matthew May, Ben Larsen, Gabe Osterhout, Cheong Kim, Kyle Peterson

The Idaho Commission for Libraries (ICfL) has partnered with Idaho Policy Institute to create the Digital Access for All Idahoans Plan (DAAI), including conducting two statewide surveys, one of Idaho’s general population and one of Idaho’s Spanish-speaking households.

This month, the DAAI team is hitting the road! IPI began traveling across Idaho to conduct focus groups with Idahoans about challenges to accessing the internet. Focus Groups were conducted in Idaho Falls, Burley, Twin Falls, and McCall. More focus groups and the state-wide survey are planned for April!

HUD Eviction Protection Grant Program

Ben Larsen, Lantz McGinnis-Brown, McAllister Hall, Vanessa Fry

IPI does data management for the HUD Eviction Protection Grant Program in partnership with Idaho Legal Aid Services and other partners across Idaho, Montana, and Utah. The program provides low-income households with free eviction legal services and representation. 

This month, IPI was able to get data for all evictions occurring in Utah from 2019-2022. Now IPI has all eviction data for Idaho, Montana, and Utah. Data cleaning and analysis of this new data is underway!

Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA)

McAllister Hall, Lantz McGinnis-Brown, Aisha Kayed, Vanessa Fry

In February, IPI shared five reports with the project partners to receive their feedback. Those partners shared the reports with multiple people within their teams culminating in thorough and thoughtful notes for the IPI team. IPI spent March addressing the thoughts and comments from partners while communicating with partners to make sure their comments were understood fully. This process is common in IPI projects, though this project is exceptional because of the number of reports and the number of partners reviewing them.

Research Scholar participates in Day of Dialogue panel

Ben Larsen was a panelist at the Day of Dialogue event, Civility in Public Service. This event brought together scholars from various parts of the School of Public Service to share ideas on topics core to the school’s mission. Discussion topics included public service, policy, public administration, and citizenship.

Research Associate sits on SPS Alumni Networking Day Panel

Emily Pape was invited to serve on the first SPS Alumni Networking Day panel. Alumni shared their experiences post-graduation with current SPS students on topics including looking for job opportunities, work/life balance, mental health, self-advocacy in the workplace, and many more! After the panel, students were invited to lunch where alumni rotated between tables to network, answer questions, and make connections.

IPI Staff attend a workshop on deconstructing presentations

IPI staff participated in the first of three workshops designed to teach the team how to build and deliver more effective presentations. This first workshop broke down the common mistakes many presentations make, and focused on cognitive science to learn better ways of presenting information. Two more workshops, Data Visualization and Presenting Confidently, will be held in the upcoming months.

“Focus Groups ask Idahoans about digital access”, Boise State Public Radio, March 27, 2023

“City Club of Boise – The Power, Peril, and Promise of Boise’s Creative Economy”, Boise State Public Radio, March 28, 2023