Notice2022-08011
Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request-Rapid Cycle Evaluation of Operational Improvements in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Employment & Training (E&T) Programs
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Published
April 14, 2022
Issuing agencies
Agriculture DepartmentFood and Nutrition Service
Abstract
In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment on the proposed information collection. This is a new collection for the contract Rapid Cycle Evaluation of Operational Improvements in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Employment & Training Programs (SNAP E&T RCE). The purpose of SNAP E&T RCE is to test small- scale interventions in SNAP E&T operations or service delivery using rapid cycle evaluation (RCE).
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 72 (Thursday, April 14, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 72 (Thursday, April 14, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22169-22171]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-08011]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Food and Nutrition Service
Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection;
Comment Request--Rapid Cycle Evaluation of Operational Improvements in
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Employment & Training
(E&T) Programs
AGENCY: Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), USDA.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this
notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment
on the proposed information collection. This is a new collection for
the contract Rapid Cycle Evaluation of Operational Improvements in
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Employment & Training
Programs (SNAP E&T RCE). The purpose of SNAP E&T RCE is to test small-
scale interventions in SNAP E&T operations or service delivery using
rapid cycle evaluation (RCE).
DATES: Written comments must be received on or before June 13, 2022.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be sent to: Mehreen Ismail, Food and Nutrition
Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1320 Braddock Place, 5th
Floor, Alexandria, VA 22314. Comments may also be submitted via email
to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#91dcf4f9e3f4f4ffbfd8e2fcf0f8fdd1e4e2f5f0bff6fee7"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="c08da5a8b2a5a5aeee89b3ada1a9ac80b5b3a4a1eea7afb6">[email protected]</span></a>. Comments will also be accepted through the
Federal eRulemaking Portal. Go to <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>, and
follow the online instructions for submitting comments electronically.
All responses to this notice will be summarized and included in the
request for Office of Management and Budget approval. All comments will
be a matter of public record.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or
copies of this information collection should be directed to Mehreen
Ismail at 703-305-2960.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the
proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper
performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the
information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the
agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of
information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions
that were used; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity
of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden
of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including
use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other
technological collection techniques or other forms of information
technology.
Title: Rapid Cycle Evaluation of Operational Improvements in
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Employment & Training
Programs (SNAP E&T RCE).
Form Number: N/A.
OMB Number: 0584-NEW.
Expiration Date: Not Yet Determined.
Type of Request: New Collection.
Abstract: In addition to providing nutrition assistance benefits to
millions of low-income individuals experiencing economic hardship, the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides work supports
through Employment and Training (E&T)
[[Page 22170]]
programs that help SNAP participants gain skills and find work. State
agencies are required to operate an E&T program and have considerable
flexibility to determine the services they offer and populations they
serve. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and Nutrition Service
(FNS) seeks to ensure the quality of the services and activities
offered through SNAP E&T programs by investing resources and providing
technical assistance to help States build capacity, create more robust
services, and increase engagement in their programs.
The Rapid Cycle Evaluation of Operational Improvements in SNAP E&T
Programs (SNAP E&T RCE) evaluation will use rapid cycle evaluation
(RCE) to test small-scale interventions in SNAP E&T operations or
service delivery to determine their effectiveness in improving program
engagement and service take-up. RCE is an approach that involves cycles
of identifying, testing, and refining small-scale, low-cost operational
interventions to determine their effectiveness. SNAP E&T RCE has
partnered with eight sites to identify the main challenges their SNAP
E&T programs face: (1) Colorado Department of Human Services, (2)
Connecticut: Community Colleges, (3) District of Columbia Department of
Human Services, (4) Kansas Division of Children and Families, (5)
Minnesota Department of Human Services, (6) Minnesota: Hennepin County
Department of Human Services, (7) Massachusetts Department of
Transitional Assistance, and (8) Rhode Island Department of Human
Services. Objectives for this study include: (a) Describing how RCE can
be used to improve SNAP E&T operations, service delivery and program
outcomes; (b) designing and implementing RCEs to obtain impact
estimates of small-scale interventions on SNAP E&T outcomes; (c)
conducting an implementation evaluation; (d) assessing the scalability
of small-scale interventions to SNAP E&T operations and services
delivery to other SNAP E&T programs; and (e) determining and
documenting the costs associated with implementing and maintaining
small-scale interventions.
The SNAP E&T RCE team is using the Learn, Innovate, and Improve
(LI\2\) framework to collaborate with sites, identify the challenges
they want to address, and eventually design and test the interventions.
The Learn phase focuses on assessing sites' needs and readiness to make
changes, which informs development of solutions or strategies--the
focus of the Innovate phase. The challenges the eight sites identified
through the Learn phase generally involve recruitment and outreach or
participant engagement and receipt of services. The SNAP E&T RCE team
worked with each site to co-create an intervention addressing one of
these challenges through the Innovate phase. Examples of interventions
the sites plan to test include sending text messages and emails to
participants to encourage enrollment in SNAP E&T or attendance at
appointments or activities, using assessments of work readiness to
improve participant referrals, or enhancing case management.
After identifying challenges in each site and designing
interventions for addressing them, the SNAP E&T RCE team will work with
each site to define operational plans for implementing the
interventions and testing, refining, and retesting selected strategies
in the Improve phase. Most interventions will be evaluated using
randomized control trials in which individuals eligible for the
intervention will be randomly assigned to a treatment group that
receives the intervention or a control group that does not. The control
group will be offered the existing approach to recruiting, outreach,
and engagement, depending on the focus of intervention. Once
interventions have been successfully piloted to ensure they operate
smoothly for the site, the SNAP E&T RCE team will provide technical
assistance to sites while they implement the intervention for a period
of about three to four months.
The study will gather data from administrative records, State and
local SNAP administrators, and SNAP participants to evaluate the
interventions' effectiveness in improving recruitment and program
engagement. Where appropriate, the study will create a system for
enrollment into the evaluation and random assignment. Data collected in
this system may include demographic and socioeconomic characteristics,
contact information, and the collection of service use data. The study
will conduct a 10-minute participant survey among a total of 4,000
participants in four of the eight sites. The participant survey will be
used to collect information on barriers to engaging with services and
seeking employment, program satisfaction, and reasons for engagement
decisions for both individuals who engaged in the E&T program and those
who either never engaged or disengaged.
The study will also collect data for the implementation evaluation
across all eight sites using a combination of semi-structured
interviews with administrators, focus groups with participants, and
staff characteristics questionnaires with frontline intervention staff.
In addition, the study will conduct in-depth interviews with
participants in four of the eight sites. Data collected from
administrators and staff will be used to describe how the interventions
were implemented, assess the fidelity of the implementation and costs
of the intervention, and identify implications for future application
of similar types of changes. Additional data collected from
participants will provide context to the administrative data and survey
responses related to participant decisions, satisfaction, and barriers,
as well as give a voice to participant backgrounds and experiences.
Affected Public: Members of the public affected by the data
collection include Individuals and Households and State, Local, and
Tribal Governments from eight sites. Respondent groups identified
include: (1) Individuals eligible for SNAP E&T participation; (2)
directors and managers from State and local government agencies
supporting the SNAP E&T programs; and (3) staff from State and local
government agencies providing direct services to SNAP E&T participants.
Estimated Number of Respondents: The estimated total number of
respondents and nonrespondents is 91,910, including 73,566 respondents
and 18,344 non-respondents. The sample includes 91,528 individuals, 135
State program staff, and 247 local program staff. As part of the site
interventions, FNS will contact 91,528 SNAP participants across all
eight sites, out of whom 18,306 will be non-respondents.
As part of data collection activities for the evaluation, FNS will
contact approximately 4,000 SNAP participants to conduct the
participant survey, 2,000 of whom will have also received the
intervention offered to the treatment group and 2,000 in the control
group who did not receive the intervention. We expect that 80 percent
of the 4,000 individuals contacted will complete the participant survey
(800 will be non-respondents). Among individuals participating in the
site interventions, FNS will recontact a total of 800 individuals to
participate in focus groups (160 will be focus group respondents and
640 will be considered non-respondents). Among individuals
participating in the site interventions, 240 individuals will also be
recontacted for in-depth-interviews (including 60 respondents and 180
non-respondents). FNS will also contact 382 SNAP program staff for
administrative data requests, semi-structured interviews,
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and a staff characteristics survey; of the 382 contacted, 135 will be
State staff and 247 will be local staff.
Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent: SNAP participants
will be asked to participate in an intervention (which includes several
possible notifications), as well as a possible in-depth interview,
survey (which includes several possible notifications), and focus group
for an average total of 3.40 responses across all instruments or
activities. State and local program staff will respond to a semi-
structured interview, administrate data request, or a brief
questionnaire for a total of 1.63 responses each.
Estimated Total Annual Responses: 249,401.
Estimated Time per Response: The estimated time of response for
respondents varies from 1 minute to 8 hours depending on the respondent
group, with an average estimated time of 0.062 hours (3.72 minutes).
Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: The total estimated
burden on respondents and non-respondents is 17,254 hours (1,035,235
minutes). The total burden on respondents, excluding nonrespondents, is
15,458 hours (927,458 minutes).
Cynthia Long,
Administrator, Food and Nutrition Service.
[FR Doc. 2022-08011 Filed 4-13-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-30-P
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