[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 225 (Monday, November 23, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64673-64675]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-31260]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Economic Research Service


Notice of Intent To Seek Approval to Collect Information

AGENCY: Economic Research Service, USDA.

SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. 
L. 104-13) and Office Management and Budget (OMB) regulations at 5 CFR 
Part 1320 (60 FR 44978, August 29, 1995), this notice announces the 
Economic Research Service's (ERS) intention to request approval for a 
new information collection from charitable organizations that provide 
emergency food assistance; from food banks; from food pantries; and 
from emergency kitchens.

DATES: Comments on this notice must be received by January 27, 1999 to 
be assured of consideration.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION OR COMMENTS: Contact David M. Smallwood, Deputy 
Director for Food Assistance Research, Food and Rural Economics 
Division, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 
1800 M Street, NW, Room N-2130, Washington, DC 20036-5831, 202-694-
5466.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Application for ERS collection of information on charitable 
organizations that provide emergency food assistance; food banks; food 
pantries, and emergency kitchens.
    Type of Request: Approval to collect information on charitable 
organizations that provide emergency food assistance, food banks, food 
pantries, and emergency kitchens.
    Abstract: USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS) has the 
responsibility to provide social and economic intelligence on consumer, 
food marketing, and rural issues, including food consumption 
determinations and trends; consumer demand for food quality, safety, 
and nutrition; food market competition and coordination; food security 
status of the poor; domestic food assistance programs; low-income 
assistance programs; and food safety regulation. In carrying out this 
overall mission, ERS seeks approval of information gathering activities 
that would provide key information about the capacity of the Emergency 
Food Assistance System (EFAS) to provide food assistance to low-income 
households.
    USDA, through the Food and Nutrition Service, administers several 
food assistance programs that help low-income households obtain 
adequate and nutritious diets. The largest USDA food assistance 
program, the Food Stamp Program, is designed to provide food assistance 
through normal channels of trade, by providing low-income consumers 
with purchasing power to buy food at market prices from food retailers 
authorized to participate in the program. Other programs, such as the 
National School Lunch Program (NSLP), the School Breakfast Program 
(SBP), and The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) provide food 
assistance outside regular marketing channels. The NSLP and SBP provide 
cash subsidies and commodity assistance to schools to help provide low-
cost or free lunches and breakfasts to schoolchildren. The Emergency 
Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), distributes commodity foods to State 
and local agencies for distribution to low-income households for home 
consumption, or to

[[Page 64674]]

charitable organizations that prepare and provide meals for needy 
people.
    The EFAS interacts closely with USDA food assistance programs by 
serving as a distribution outlet for TEFAP commodities and by providing 
temporary or supplemental food assistance to many of the same needy 
populations served by USDA programs. Through its Food Recovery and 
Gleaning Initiative, USDA is coordinating public and private efforts to 
increase the amount of surplus food channeled through EFAS providers by 
33 percent by the year 2000.
    EFAS providers are largely private, nonprofit organizations that 
distribute groceries (nonprepared foods) and meals (prepared foods) on 
a short-term or emergency basis, to needy individuals and households 
who lack the resources to meet their own food needs. Recipients include 
the elderly, the homeless, the unemployed, and the working poor, as 
well as victims of natural disasters. Food banks, food pantries, and 
emergency kitchens are important components of the system. Food banks 
are primarily collection and distribution centers near the ``top'' of 
the system, providing food to a large set of diverse and geographically 
dispersed agencies/providers. Food pantries are distribution centers 
that provide groceries and other basic supplies for use by recipients 
in their homes or at other locations away from the distribution sites. 
Emergency kitchens supply food for on-site consumption to people who do 
not live at the site. Both kitchens and pantries focus on providing 
emergency food to needy families in their neighborhoods.
    In order to fully assess the interactions of these organizations 
with USDA food assistance programs and their implications for public 
policy, ERS must have information on providers' operating 
characteristics, service areas, and resource base, the quantity and 
type of food flowing into the system, the number of people served, and 
providers' capacity to manage current and future changes in food demand 
and resources. Information about the availability and demand for EFAS 
services in prior years is also needed.
    Previous research has examined interactions between EFAS providers 
and the homeless 1 and has examined operating data from 
limited numbers of EFAS providers.2 However, important 
information gaps remain, due to such factors as (1) lack of national 
representativeness; (2) a focus on the homeless population rather than 
on the full set of clients served by the EFAS; and (3) lack of 
comparability across studies, each of which had limited scope.
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    \1\ Cohen, Barbara E., Nancy Chapman, and Martha R. Burt. ``Food 
Sources and Intake of Homeless Persons.'' Journal of Nutrition 
Education, vol. 24, no. 1 supp. January 1, 1990.
    \2\ Second Harvest. Hunger 1997: The Faces & Faces. Chicago: The 
Amburg Group, 1997
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    To fill these information gaps, ERS, working with Mathematica 
Policy Research, Inc., will survey food banks, food pantries, and 
emergency kitchens. The sampling process for this study uses a multi-
stage design. In the first stage, the United States will be divided 
into 2,000 mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive Primary 
Sampling Units (PSUs) covering the 48 continental United States and the 
District of Columbia, stratified by region, urbanicity, and size. A 
random sample of 360 PSUs will be drawn. A listing of all food banks in 
the country will be constructed, along with a frame of pantries and 
kitchens in the 360 sampled areas. Obtaining lists of food providers 
will require contacts with state TEFAP directors and national 
religious, social service, and volunteer organizations, as well as 
intensive telephone canvassing of public and private organizations and 
government agencies at the local or county level.
    When selecting the sample of PSUs, the measure of size will be the 
square root of the estimated poverty population in each PSU. The ideal 
measure would be the number of EFA providers, but this number is not 
known. The number of providers is expected to be less than proportional 
to the number of people in poverty. In previous work, the square root 
factor has been found usually to reflect this relationship well.
    After the sampling stage has been completed, a census of food banks 
will be conducted, and data will be collected from all food banks in 
the 48 continental United States and the District of Columbia. 
Stratified random samples of food pantries and emergency kitchens will 
be surveyed. To collect survey data, computer-assisted telephone 
interviews (CATI) will be conducted with representatives of food banks, 
food pantries, and emergency kitchens.
    Respondent burden will be minimized by using CATI methods to 
streamline the interviewing process, and by carefully training 
interviewing staff on survey procedures. The objective of minimizing 
burden will also be accomplished through careful attention to 
instrument development, aimed at limiting content to only those domains 
that are important to the agency's objectives, and by ensuring clear 
question flow.
    Responses will be voluntary and confidential. To ensure 
confidentiality, data will be reported only in tabular form, with 
analysis cells large enough to prevent identification of individual 
providers. In addition, identifying information will be kept only by 
the contractor and will be released only to the contractor's internal 
staff who need it directly for the survey and analysis operations.
    Estimate of Burden: To develop the sample frame, telephone contact 
with representatives of national organizations will average 30 minutes, 
and telephone contacts with state TEFAP officials and local or county 
informants will average 15 minutes. CATI interviews with respondents at 
food banks, food pantries, and emergency kitchens will average 45 
minutes.
    Respondents: Respondents are state and local governments, local and 
national charitable organizations, food banks, food pantries, and 
emergency kitchens. To develop the sample frame, 15 national-level 
informants, 1 TEFAP official from each of the 48 continental States and 
the District of Columbia, and 15 local-or county-level informants in 
each of the 360 sampled areas will be asked for contact names, 
addresses, and telephone numbers of food providers. For the CATI 
survey, data will be collected from 1,657 food pantries and 1,470 
emergency kitchens. All of the estimated 500 to 600 food banks in the 
United States will be included in the food bank survey, and after 
taking nonresponse into account, the number of completions is estimated 
to be 440.
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: Estimated burden of 
the development of the sample frame will be 7.5 hours for the national 
organizations, 12 hours for the TEFAP officials, and 1,350 hours for 
contacts in the 360 sampled areas, totaling 1,370 hours for all 
informants. The estimated burden of the CATI interviews will be 330 
hours for the food banks, 1,243 hours for the food pantries, and 1,103 
hours for the emergency kitchens, totaling 2,676 hours for all 
respondents.
    Comments: 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 will 
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 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

[[Page 64675]]

the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other 
technology. Comments may be sent to: David M. Smallwood, Deputy 
Director for Food Assistance Research, Food and Rural Economics 
Division, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 
1800 M Street, NW, Room N-2130, Washington, DC 20036-5831.
    All responses to this notice will be summarized and included in the 
request for Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval. All 
comments will also become a matter of public record.

    Dated: November 16, 1998.
Betsey Kuhn,
Director, Food and Rural Economics Division.
[FR Doc. 98-31260 Filed 11-20-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-18-P