June 2023

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

Hospital systems are required by the IRS to complete a Community Health Needs Assessment every three years. This year the Western Idaho Community Health Collaborative led a collaboration that saw Saint Alphonsus and St. Luke’s Health Systems working on this together for the first time, along with Intermountain/Seltzer Health, Southwest District Health, Central District Health, United Way of the Treasure Valley, and Weiser Memorial Hospital. This group contracted with IPI to write the final report.

After collecting data through interviews with community leaders, focus groups with community members, and surveys done of the community, three key community challenges were identified as priorities for community organizations to address. There were:

• Homelessness and access to safe, affordable housing
• Access to and stigma related to behavioral health, including mental health and well-being, and substance misuse
• Access to affordable health care, including vision and oral health

The collaboration also resulted in the creation of the Idaho Oregon Community Health Atlas data from public datasets on topics such as demographics, health outcomes, transportation, housing, and more. This data is available for public access at idahooregonatlas.org.

NSF COMPLEAT Project

McAllister Hall, Emily Pape, Zane Cooper

In 2021, a team of Boise State researchers led by Dr. Sasha Wang in the Math Department was awarded a $2 million grant by the National Science Foundation. The goal of the research is to improve prospective elementary teachers’ engagement through innovative, interdisciplinary, and inquiry-based approaches to address the pressing need for the integration of multiple disciplines in science, technology, engineering, and math education. After year one, the project team decided to select a different evaluator for the grant and selected IPI. IPI just completed its first evaluation of year two of the project. IPI is anticipated to complete the evaluation for the remaining years of the grant period.

Communities of Excellence Charter School Program Grant Evaluation

McAllister Hall, Gabe Osterhout

In June, IPI completed a draft of the fourth evaluation of the Communities of Excellence Charter School Program Grant awarded to Bluum. The evaluation looks at the impact of grant funds on the demographic makeup of subgrantee schools, the academic performance of subgrantee schools, parent satisfaction with subgrantee schools, as well as the use of grant funds. The report will be finalized in the month of July.

SHIBA Program Effectiveness Study

Ben Larsen, Cheong Kim, Emily Pape, Kellen McGurkin

The Idaho Department of Insurance has partnered with IPI to conduct an analysis of the Idaho Senior Health Insurance Benefits Advisors (SHIBA) program, research approaches to State Health Insurance Assistance Programs (SHIPs) in other states, and report findings for consideration by the Idaho Department of Insurance (DOI) to improve the effectiveness of the SHIBA program. The project will analyze the effectiveness of four components of the SHIBA program: community partnerships, volunteer management, marketing and outreach, and operational procedures.  

In June, IPI made a lot of progress in the research design of the SHIBA analysis. First, initial research was conducted on 12 other states’ SHIPs to find out what data was available online. IPI wrote brief descriptions of each SHIP and identified common themes among them. Additionally, the interview protocol and survey instruments went through significant revision. Near-final drafts were submitted to DOI for review and comments.

Media Campaign Evaluations

Ben Larsen, Aisha Kayed, Matthew May, Vanessa Fry, Ellen Schafer, Emma Redman, McAllister Hall

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, the Fentanyl Survey data collection was completed and 606 total responses were collected. IPI began data cleaning and analysis. Also, the Provider Awareness Survey began data collection in late June, which will continue until mid-July.

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.

In June, IPI created an updated data dashboard for the community partners. For the first time, this dashboard included eviction data for the State of Utah, after persistent efforts to collect the data. In addition, ILAS decided to apply for an extension of the Eviction Protection Program for an additional year!

Digital Access for All Idahoans Planning Support

Matthew May, Ben Larsen, Cheong Kim, Kyle Peterson, Lantz McGinnis-Brown, Kellen McGurkin

 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. 

IPI was mostly focused on data analysis in June. Coding the focus groups was a large undertaking and analysis of the survey began as well. IPI continues to refine the report objectives as data analysis and collection progress.

After nearly five years with IPI, Gabe Osterhout accepted a job with the Idaho Office of the Secretary of State as a data visualization specialist. Though we will miss Gabe’s professional and social contributions to IPI, we are excited for this next step in his career and hope that it may lead to more connections between IPI and the Statehouse.

“What’s on Idaho’s mind? Boise State’s annual Idaho Public Policy Survey will tell you” Boise State News, June 6, 2023