USF Policy Lab Projects

Design + Policy Collaboration

Faculty: Rachel Beth Egenhoefer, Keally McBride
Students: Community Engaged Design & Fire,Water, Food

Politics students worked to research data surrounding issues of fire, water and food in California to propose new policy initiatives that would create positive change.  Design students collaborated to help position the policy proposals to specific audiences and create visual deliverables around them.  Politics students benefited not only from the visual communications but also having the experience of explaining concepts and arguments to different audiences.  Design students benefited from working with real world issues, clients, and audiences.       

End products included:

• Research poster aimed at policy makers and citizens critically examining the choice to log more as a response to fires in California.
• Research poster aimed at policy makers arguing that community safety plans, already required by the State, should include public information campaigns to help prepare citizens for fire emergencies.
• Campaign for voters for policy change on Dam Removals.  Currently dam certification procedures do not propose dam removal as an option.  Given reduced water flow in rivers, CA has a rapidly growing number of dams that would require significant financial investment to maintain them, but do not provide a profit for the company running them.
• Brochure for farmers to understand water impacts and crop choices.  It includes a proposal to extend a program providing funds for smaller farmers to reduce water usage through technology and crop selection.
• Campaign for voters on Policy on Equity in Safe Water Drinking. This project team calculated the least expensive way to provide safe drinking water to all residents in California. 
• Brochure advocating policy change on the rights of Incarcerated Fire Fighters aimed at California voters. 
• Classroom posters on Fire Education to be used in policy reform on K-12 curriculum in California.