[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 98 (Monday, May 23, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29475-29476]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-10208]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE


Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service; 
Notice of Intent To Extend a Currently Approved Information Collection

AGENCY: Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, 
USDA.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations (5 CFR part 1320) 
which implement the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 
35), this notice announces the Cooperative State Research, Education, 
and Extension Services (CSREES) intention to request approval to extend 
the currently approved information collection for Children, Youth, and 
Families at Risk (CYFAR).

DATES: Written comments on this notice must be received by July 22, 
2005 to be assured of consideration. Comments received after that date 
will be considered to the extent practicable.

ADDRESSES: Written comments concerning this notice and requests for 
copies of the information collection may be submitted by any of the 
following methods to Jason Hitchcock, eGovernment Program Leader, 
Information Systems and Technology Management; Mail: CSREES, USDA, STOP 
2216, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20250-2216; Hand 
Delivery/Courier: 800 9th Street, SW, Waterfront Centre, Washington, DC 
20024; Fax: 202-720-0857; or E-mail: [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jason Hitchcock, 202-720-4343 or via 
the above e-mail address.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Children, Youth, and Families at Risk (CYFAR) Year End 
Report.
    OMB Number: 0524-0043.
    Expiration Date of Approval: September 30, 2005.
    Type of Request: Intent to request approval to extend an 
information collection.
    Abstract: Funding for the Children, Youth, and Families at Risk 
(CYFAR) New Communities Project (NCP) is authorized under section 3(d) 
of the Smith-Lever Act (7 U.S.C. 341 et seq.), as amended, and other 
relevant authorizing legislation, which provides jurisdictional basis 
for the establishment and operation of Extension educational work for 
the benefit of youth and families in communities. The CYFAR funding 
program supports community-based programs serving children, youth, and 
families in at-risk environments. CYFAR funds are intended to support 
the development of high quality, effective programs based on research 
and to document the impact of these programs on intended audiences. The 
CYFAR Year End Report collects demographic and impact data from each 
community site to conduct impact evaluations of the programs on its 
intended audience.
    The collection of information serves several purposes. It allows 
CSREES staff to gauge if the program is reaching the target audience 
and to make programmatic improvements. This collection also allows 
program staff to demonstrate the impacts and capacity that is developed 
in the locales where Federal assistance is provided.
    The evaluation processes of CYFAR are consistent with the 
requirements of Congressional legislation and OMB. The Government 
Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993 (Pub. L. 103-62), the 
Federal Activities Inventory Reform Act (FAIR) (Pub. L. 105-107), and 
the Agricultural, Research, Extension and Education Reform Act (AREERA) 
of 1998 (Pub. L. 105-185), together with OMB requirements, support the 
reporting requirements requested in this information collection. One of 
the five Presidential Management Agenda initiatives, Budget and 
Performance Integration, builds on GPRA and earlier efforts to identify 
program goals and performance measures, and link them to the budget 
process. The FAIR act requires the development and implementation of a 
system to monitor and evaluate agricultural research and extension 
activities in order to measure the impact and effectiveness of 
research, extension, and education programs. AREERA requires a 
performance evaluation to be conducted to determine whether Federally 
funded agricultural, research, extension, and education programs result 
in public goods that have national or multi-state significance.
    The immediate need of this information collection is to provide a 
means for satisfying accountability requirements. The long-term 
objective is to provide a means to enable the evaluation and assessment 
of the effectiveness of programs receiving Federal funds and to fully 
satisfy requirements of performance and accountability legislation in 
GPRA, the FAIR Act, and AREERA.
    Estimate of Burden: There are currently CYFAR projects in 48 states 
and 2 territories. Each state and territory is required to submit an 
annual year-end report which includes demographic and impact data on 
each of the community projects. CSREES estimates the burden of this 
collection to be 322 hours per response. There are currently 50 
respondents, thus making the total annual burden of this collection an 
estimated 16,100 hours.
    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; (c) ways to 
enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be 
collected; and

[[Page 29476]]

(d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate 
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.

    Done in Washington, DC, this 12th day of May, 2005.
Rodney J. Brown,
Deputy Under Secretary, Research, Education, and Economics.
[FR Doc. 05-10208 Filed 5-20-05; 8:45 am]
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