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.