July 2022 Updates

July was another incredible month of projects and partnerships at Idaho Policy Institute. We reported on three ongoing longitudinal studies: Evictions in Idaho, Idaho Health and Welfare’s Treatment and Transitions program, and Idaho’s Communities of Excellence charter school program. The first two evaluations help inform programmatic delivery for people experiencing housing instability while the later supports the efforts of Bluum to deliver high quality education to Idaho’s youth. IPI’s summer interns completed a project examining Housing First as an approach to addressing homelessness. To help Canyon County address issues regarding population growth and land use planning, an IPI team researched a Transfer of Development Rights program for the county. Such a program would enable the county to incentivize new development near existing infrastructure in order to meet their comprehensive planning goals of preserving agricultural land.

These are just a few examples of how through carrying out its mission IPI provides research support to positively impact Idahoans across the state. This academic year students will be working with new partners through sponsored research projects and two Service-Learning classes, the MPA Capstone and the Housing Opportunities for All VIP. These partners include Hailey Ice, Poder Idaho, Jesse Tree, Idaho State Dental Association, and Idaho Wine Commission, among others.

Best,
Vanessa Fry

McAllister Hall, Gabe Osterhout

IPI completed their third evaluation of the Federal Charter School Program (CSP) Grant awarded to Bluum, a local nonprofit. Bluum awards CSP Grant funds to subgrantee charter schools with the intention to increase the number of seats available in high quality charter schools across the state. The evaluation looked at the demographics of subgrantee schools, use of funds, student performance, and quality perceptions of teachers and parents. Overall, 4,060 seats have been added to subgrantee schools. Most grant funds are used for staffing and technology costs. Parents and teachers are very satisfied with their schools and schools tend to have higher rates of proficiency compared to state averages. However, in subgrantee schools, economically disadvantaged students are more likely to have lower rates of proficiency than state averages.