[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 212 (Friday, November 1, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66645-66646]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-27759]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Proposed Information Collection Activity; Comment Request

Proposed Projects

    Title: DHHS/ACF Rural Welfare-to-Work Strategies Demonstration 
Evaluation Project 18-Month Survey.
    OMB No.: New Collection.
    Description: the Rural Welfare-to-Work Strategies Demonstration 
Evaluation Project, which was developed and funded by the 
Administration for Children and Families (ACF) of the U.S. Department 
of Health and Human Services (HHS), is a national evaluation to 
determine the benefits and cost-effectiveness of methods designed to 
aid current or former Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) 
recipients or other low-income families as they transition from welfare 
to the employment arena. This evaluation chiefly attempts to address 
four research questions:
    [sbull] What are the issues and challenges associated with 
operating the new welfare-to-work services and policy approaches being 
studied?
    [sbull] How effective are the welfare-to-work programs under the 
project in increasing employment and earnings and in improving other 
measures?
    [sbull] What are the net costs of the welfare-to-work programs, and 
do the programs' benefits outweigh the costs?
    [sbull] What approaches should policymakers and program managers 
consider in designing strategies to improve the efficacy of welfare-to-
work strategies for families in rural areas?
    The evaluation employs a multi-pronged approach to answer the 
research questions. These approaches include: (1) An impact study, 
which will examine the differences between control and intervention 
groups with respect to factors such as employment rates, earnings, and 
welfare receipt; (2) a cost-benefit analysis, which will calculate 
estimates of net program cost-effectiveness; and (3) an in-depth 
process study, which will identify implementation issues and 
challenges, examine program costs, and provide details on how programs 
achieve observed results. The data collected during the conduct of this 
study will be used for the following purposes:
    [sbull] To study rural welfare-to-work programs' effects on factors 
such as employment, earnings, educational attainment, family 
composition;
    [sbull] To collect data on a wider range of outcome measures--such 
as job acquisition, retention, and advancement, job quality, 
educational attainment, and employment barriers--than is available 
through welfare or unemployment insurance records, in order to 
understand how individuals are being affected by the demonstration 
programs;
    [sbull] To support research on the implementation of welfare-to-
work programs across sites;
    [sbull] To obtain program participation and service use information 
important to the evaluation's cost-benefit component; and
    [sbull] To obtain contact information for a future follow-up survey 
that will be important to achieving high response rates for that 
survey.
    Respondents: The respondents of the 18-month follow-up survey are 
current and former TANF recipients, or individuals in families at risk 
of needing TANF benefits (working poor, hard-to-employ) from the three 
states participating in the evaluation (Illinois, Nebraska, and 
Tennessee). The survey will be administered to both intervention and 
control groups in each participating site. The estimated sample size 
for the survey is 3,400 individuals, including projected samples of 
2,200 in Tennessee, and 600 each in Illinois and Nebraska. The survey 
will be conducted primarily by telephone, with field interviews 
conducted with those individuals who cannot be interviewed by 
telephone.
    Respondents of the process study data collection efforts 
(interviews, case studies, and focus groups) include State and local-
level agency staff from welfare agencies and other organizations. These 
individuals include program directors and site managers, program line 
staff, workforce development staff, TANF agency staff, and community 
partners and employers. Approximately 105 staff members per site are 
expected to participate in semi-structured interviews, 21 in case 
conferences, and 108 in focus groups, across the three demonstration 
sites.

                                             Annual Burden Estimates
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                                                          Number of
              Instrument                  Number of     responses per  Average burden hours per    Total burden
                                         respondents     respondent             response              hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
18-Month Follow-up Survey............             963               1  45 minutes or .75 hours.            723
Process Study Data Collection Staff               105               1  75 minutes or 1.15 hours            120.8
 Interviews.
Process Study Data Collection Staff                21               1  30 minutes or .5 hours..             10.5
 Case Conferences.
Process Study Data Collection Staff               108               1  90 minutes or 1.5 hours.            162
 Focus Groups.
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    Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 1016.3.
    In compliance with the requirements of Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Administration for Children and 
Families is soliciting public comment on the specific aspects of the 
information collection described above. Copies of the proposed 
collection of information can be obtained and comments may be forwarded 
by writing to the Administration for Children and Families, Office of 
Administration Office of Information Services, 370 L'Enfant Promenade, 
SW., Washington,

[[Page 66646]]

DC 20447, Attn: ACF Reports Clearance Officer. All requests should be 
identified by the title of the information collection.
    The Department specifically requests comments 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; (c) the quality, utility, and clarity of the information 
to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection 
of information on respondents, including through the use of automated 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology. 
Consideration will be given to comments and suggestions submitted 
within 60 days of this publication.

    Dated: October 23, 2002.
Robert Sargis,
Reports Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 02-27759 Filed 10-31-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-01-M