September 2023

Dr. Laura King, Dr. Jacqueline Lee, Dr. Lane Gillespie, Dr. Lisa Bostaph, Lantz McGinnis-Brown, Aisha Kayed

Sexual assault (SA) is a significant public health issue that can result in a variety of consequences such as physical injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, suicidal ideation, and financial strain. Post-assault, survivors are faced with a host of legal and non-legal needs. To better understand these needs, Idaho Legal Aid Services (ILAS) contracted with researchers at Boise State University to examine the legal and non-legal needs facing rural SA survivors in Idaho.

The report finds that, while the demand for legal assistance for SA survivors appears to be high, the available resources are limited. Lack of capacity for providing civil legal services was the most frequently mentioned barrier by interview and survey respondents. The most commonly identified opportunity for ILAS was increased capacity, including more attorneys, more rapid response time, improved communication, increased presence in rural areas, stronger inter-agency relationships, and more bilingual services. With the understanding that funding and resources are limited, the report recommends creative ways to expand service availability, including rotating or mobile law clinics, and the use of paralegals or other professionals to bolster ILAS’ capacity.

The research team also identified other needs that are not specific to legal services but are important for service providers to consider as well. Community awareness of services was the second most common barrier in the service provider surveys. Several interview respondents described a general unawareness among survivors of available services and how to navigate the system. Additional collaboration among service providers is recommended to enhance relationships and education surrounding the range of services available. Other system-wide opportunities to support rural SA survivors, outlined further in the report, include support of legislation to expand civil protection order eligibility, and increased access to non-legal resources, such as mental/behavioral health, transportation, housing assistance, and childcare.

Media Campaign Evaluations

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

The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare partnered with IPI to evaluate two health media campaigns. Both evaluation reports were completed in September and delivered to IDHW. The fentanyl awareness campaign reached 14% of Idahoans and respondents who saw the campaign materials were more likely to seek out information about fentanyl overdose and treatments, such as naloxone. The provider awareness survey reached 25% of respondents. Respondents overwhelmingly agreed that substance use disorder is a treatable, chronic disease, but only about half felt they had the resources necessary to provide care to patients with substance use disorder.

SHIBA Program Effectiveness Study

Ben Larsen, Cheong Kim, Emily Pape

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 September, data collection began for the evaluation. Eight interviews were conducted with SHIP staff in other states and IPI continued working with DOI on the process of distributing the surveys to SHIBA volunteers and beneficiaries.

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 September, IPI staff began collecting information from EPP partners about the costs associated with eviction prevention services in order to create estimated costs for the implementation of state eviction prevention programs.

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.

In September, IPI incorporated feedback from the public comment period into the DAAI plan draft. The IPI team is working to finalize the DAAI plan draft in early October.

New IPI Student Workers

In September, IPI hired two new undergraduate students. Both students were introduced to IPI at the on-campus job fair.

Patty Chelini is in her final year at Boise State. She is studying Educational Studies with an emphasis in Environmental Education. Patty is excited to intern at IPI and increase her research skills.

Eliza Chaffin is a freshman studying Social Work at Boise State and will be joining IPI as a graphic designer.

MPA Capstone Projects

The MPA Capstone course connects MPA students with community partners. Students gain experience addressing real-world problems faced by decision-makers across Idaho. This semester students are carrying out three projects in collaboration with community partners

• Measuring the impacts of cross-discipline education programs (community partner, Treasure Valley Institute for Children’s Arts)
• Funding transit authorities through joint development and fare revenue (community partner, Valley Regional Transit)
• Increasing visitability in new construction (community partner, Idaho Access Project)

Contract Management Strategies of Government CEOs by Contractor Form: A Survey Experiment

Cheong Kim presented a study about contractor form and agent discretion, coauthored by Matthew May and Vanessa Fry, at the 119th American Political Science Association’s Annual Meeting & Exhibition, Los Angeles, California, August 31 – September 3. The analysis of the original data from 104 municipalities in eleven western U.S. states suggests that government chief executives understand the greater agency problem posed by a for-profit contractor and would permit the contractor agent less discretion and take tighter implementation of contract management strategies.