[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 51 (Thursday, March 16, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13622-13623]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-3799]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB 
Review; Comment Request

    Periodically, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services 
Administration (SAMHSA) will publish a summary of information 
collection requests under OMB review, in compliance with the Paperwork 
Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). To request a copy of these 
documents, call the SAMHSA Reports Clearance Officer on (240) 276-1243.

Project: Evaluation of the Policy Academies on Chronic Homelessness--
New

    The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's 
(SAMHSA), Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) and the Health 
Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) will fund an evaluation of 
the Policy Academies on Chronic Homelessness held in 2002, 2003, and 
2004. These Policy Academies were sponsored by the U.S. Department of 
Human Services (HHS) in partnership with the U.S. Department of 
Veterans Affairs, U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of 
Housing and Urban Development. The Policy Academies were 3-4 day 
meetings designed to help teams of State, Territory and local 
policymakers develop Action Plans intended to improve access to 
mainstream services for people who are homeless.
    This evaluation will assess the effectiveness of the Policy 
Academies in helping States and Territories address the problem of 
chronic homelessness. This evaluation has been conceptualized in two 
parts. The process evaluation will focus on the activities related to 
conducting the Policy Academies. The process evaluation interviews will 
focus on: (1) How the Policy Academy concept was developed, (2) how the 
Federal Partners implemented the Policy Academies, (3) what factors 
influenced the effectiveness of each step of the intervention (i.e., 
pre-Academy site visits, Policy Academy meetings, and post-Academy 
technical assistance), (4) what changes in the Policy Academy process 
occurred over time, (5) what challenges/barriers Federal Partners faced 
in the development and implementation of the Policy Academies, and (6) 
how future Policy Academies could be improved to better meet the needs 
of States and Territories. The process evaluation will include all 45 
States and Territories that participated in one of the Policy Academies 
on Chronic Homelessness, as well as the three Pacific Territories 
(American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, and 
Guam,) that participated in a special series of Policy Academies on 
Homelessness held in American Samoa and Guam.
    The second part, the outcome evaluation, will assess how successful 
State, Territory, and local policymakers have been in implementing the 
Action Plans that were developed at the Policy Academies. The outcome 
evaluation interviews will focus on: (1) How States and Territories put 
together their Policy Academy teams, (2) the content and overall 
quality of the Action Plans these teams developed, (3) to what extent 
States and Territories have been able to increase access to coordinated 
housing and mainstream services for persons experiencing homelessness, 
(4) what challenges/barriers States and Territories faced in trying to 
achieve short- and long-term goals, and (5) to what extent 
relationships among the Governor's office, legislators, key program 
administrators, and public and private stakeholders were created or 
strengthened. In order to reduce burden on informants, the outcome 
evaluation will focus on a sample of States and Territories (the 19 
States and Territories participating in the last two Policy Academies 
on Chronic Homelessness and the three Pacific Territories).

[[Page 13623]]

    Data collection will be conducted over a 12-month period and will 
include both telephone interviews and site visits. Data collection 
instruments are semi-structured and will be administered by trained 
evaluation staff. Telephone interviews will be conducted with state 
team leaders and other team members. During site visits, in-person 
interviews will be conducted with team leaders, other team members, and 
other stakeholders. Both telephone and in-person interview protocols 
have been adapted to reflect the slightly different Policy Academy 
process used in the Pacific Territories and to reflect the different 
needs, funding sources, resources, and service systems in these 
territories.
    The estimated annual response burden to collect this information is 
as follows:

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                                                                                     Burden/
                   Instrument                       Number of      Responses/       response      Annual burden
                                                   respondents     respondent         (hrs)           (hrs)
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                                              Telephone Interviews
                                              (Process Evaluation)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Team Leader Interview..........................              48               1            2                96
Other Team Member Interview....................              96               1            1.5             144
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                                              In-Person Interviews
                                              (Outcome Evaluation)
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Team Leader Interview..........................              22               1            2.25             49.5
Other Team Member Interview....................             154               1            1.75            269.5
Other Stakeholder Interview....................             110               1            1.5             165
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    Total Annual...............................             430  ..............  ..............            724
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    Written comments and recommendations concerning the proposed 
information collection should be sent by April 17, 2006 to: SAMHSA Desk 
Officer, Human Resources and Housing Branch, Office of Management and 
Budget, New Executive Office Building, Room 10235, Washington, DC 
20503; due to potential delays in OMB's receipt and processing of mail 
sent through the U.S. Postal Service, respondents are encouraged to 
submit comments by fax to: 202-395-6974.

    Dated: March 9, 2006.
Anna Marsh,
Director, Office of Program Services.
 [FR Doc. E6-3799 Filed 3-15-06; 8:45 am]
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