[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 222 (Tuesday, November 18, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65073-65074]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-28759]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Children and Families


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    Title: HHS/ACF Rural Welfare-to-Work Strategies Demonstration 
Evaluation Project 30-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 addresses 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, and 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;

[[Page 65074]]

    [sbull] to obtain 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 to the 30-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 two 
states participating in the evaluation (Illinois and Nebraska). The 
survey will be administered to both intervention and control groups in 
each participating site. The estimated sample size for the survey is 
984 individuals, including projected samples of 504 in Illinois and 480 
in Nebraska. The survey will be conducted primarily by telephone, with 
field interviews conducted with those individuals who cannot be 
interviewed by telephone. OMB already approved the process evaluation 
component and 18-month follow-up survey for this study.

    Note:  Tennessee has been dropped from the study due to 
difficulties in recruiting participants to their program. Therefore, 
the estimated burden is smaller than the one in the first notice.


                                             Annual Burden Estimates
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                        Number of
           Instrument                 Number of       responses per   Average burden hours per    Total burden
                                     respondents       respondent             response                hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
30-month follow-up survey.......              246                 1   30 minutes or .5 hours               123
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 123

    Additional Information: Copies of the proposed collection may be 
obtained by writing to the Administration for Children and Families, 
Office of Administration, Office of Information Services, 370 L'Enfant 
Promenade, SW., Washington, DC 20447, Attn: ACF Reports Clearance 
Officer. All requests should be identified by the title of the 
information collection. E-mail address: [email protected].
    OMB Comment: OMB is required to make a decision concerning the 
collection of information between 30 and 60 days after publication of 
this document in the Federal Register. Therefore, a comment is best 
assured of having its full effect if OMB receives it within 30 days of 
publication. Written comments and recommendations for the proposed 
information collection should be sent directly to the following: Office 
of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project, Attn: Desk 
Officer for ACF, E-mail address: [email protected].

    Dated: November 10, 2003.
Robert Sargis,
Reports Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 03-28759 Filed 11-17-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-01-M