Treefort is a welcoming music festival that takes place in beautiful downtown Boise every spring. However, according to Treefort’s leadership team, there’s a problem with accessibility.

The Treefort Trailblazers Design Lab Team began by interviewing the festival organizers and also conducted empathy work with students, Treefort attendees, and students who face challenges going to Treefort.

This design lab team focused on reducing food waste in Boise. Through their research, they discovered that over 133 billion pounds of food are wasted each year in the US alone. They completed several empathy experiences to hone in on a specific problem. Some of the empathy experiences included interviewing the head chefs of Thomas Cuisine and A’Tavola, visiting the Ada County Landfill, and interviewing the founder of the Roots Zero Waste Market.

The Ladder Up DLab team has been working closely with the staff and volunteer coordinators of Treefort Music Fest to address challenges faced by their Under-21 volunteer program. According to Gus Marsden, one of the leads for the U21 volunteer program, the program as a whole has been very successful, but Treefort has had some struggles with organization, transparency, and lack of engagement in their volunteer system.

The Inclusive Yoga DLab team focused on Yogafort, a branch of Treefort that provides yoga classes. The Yogafort founders approached the team in hopes of making the festival more inclusive.

The Parallelenting team has been working with Jody Malterre from Parent Teacher Coach. Parent Teach Coach is an organization that works to create positive dynamics at home and at school through classes for parents.

In their first discussion with Jody, the team learned that parents often felt guilty for leaving their kids with a babysitter during the class, and there was no structure to the childcare program during previous classes.

People experiencing homelessness face many challenges, but One Stone learners found that man’s best friend can play a key role in helping lift spirits and bring hope.

The Pet Therapy Design Lab team partnered with New Path Community Housing. New Path is a local organization that utilizes a housing first model to provide 40 of Boise’s most vulnerable citizens who have experienced chronic homelessness with a stable living environment. Through interviewing residents, the team learned that many residents wish they were able to interact with animals more often, but are unable to have pets of their own due to the expense of pet ownership and rules in place at New Path.

The Art Against Vandalism Design Lab team is passionate about identifying the cause of the vandalism in downtown Boise, how public art might play a role in reducing vandalism, and the effect vandalism has on business owners in the area.

The Food Coalition Design Lab team designed scalable solutions to reduce the consumption of single-use plastic dishware at the Boise Farmers Market.

Single-use plastics represent an unsustainable packaging model and generate large amounts of plastic waste that are detrimental to the environment, which makes this topic an issue of critical importance both globally and locally.

With the city at maximum capacity for electric scooters (e-scooters), their full force is becoming more and visible in the city around us. While they’re sustainable and sleek, they often clog public sidewalks. They’re a potential solution to Boise’s lack of public transportation options and a boon for environmentally friendly policy, but they’re also a bother for business owners and a wheelchair accessibility issue.

Though easy, efficient, and cheap, single-use packaging is a threat to the environment and to the future of the Earth. Plastic is incredibly harmful. Its creation causes carbon emissions and it never truly has an “end” as a product. Whether these plastics are put in the trash or recycled, they will eventually end up in the landfill where they can sit for 400 to 1,000 years before breaking down into microplastics.

The Taste It, Don’t Waste It team worked on the problem of food waste in Boise. Food deemed inedible and thrown away has become a daunting issue, and one that does not seem very approachable. Beyond saving money, individuals who are mindful not to waste food contribute to keeping the environment healthy.

The Rad Radish team partnered with Shoreline Plaza, a low-income housing facility for elderly and disabled individuals, to help provide its residents with fresh, healthy produce. After their initial interview, the team learned that one major problem facing the residents is a lack of access to fresh produce.

Many people are familiar with first responders, but what about dispatchers? Dispatchers are responsible for aiding 911 callers and sending help their way.

This design team focused on the experiences and mental and physical health of 911 dispatchers.

When deciding what to eat, the majority of young adults choose the most convenient, tasty, and affordable option, which is likely not the most nutritious.

The Resources For Mindful Eating team understood that mindful and healthy eating is important to one’s lifestyle. Initially they defined their demographic as young adults, but after deeper inspection of the problem at hand, the Design Lab team found that their problem applied to more than just one user group.

The Vaping Prevention Education Design Lab team identified the significant increase of vape use by minors as an issue threatening their health. After researching possible causes and potential solutions, the team came up with the question: How might we make vaping appear less appealing to at-risk elementary students?

It is well known that college students don’t get enough sleep. According to Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, 60% of college students feel tired during the day.

In order to help solve this widespread issue, the Tri-Sleep team began by testing a before-bed meditation exercise.

This Design Lab team is very passionate about being in the outdoors. They began the design process by examining issues surrounding outdoor first aid, avalanche safety, and outdoor preparedness.

The Boise River Greenbelt is a jewel of the Boise community. This 36-mile park in the Treasure Valley captures the natural beauty of the outdoors. From the outside, it looks perfect, but in reality, it has some problems.

People who are released from prison face many obstacles. From financial stability to building healthy relationships to receiving trust from the community at large, formerly incarcerated people have many difficulties they must overcome before they can successfully become part of society again.

This Design Lab team originally set out to help recently released prisoners reach some important financial stability goals.