[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 120 (Friday, June 20, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35120-35121]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-13909]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE


Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

    The Department of Commerce will submit to the Office of Management 
and Budget (OMB) for clearance the following proposal for collection of 
information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 
U.S.C. chapter 35).
    Agency: U.S. Census Bureau.
    Title: National Youth Volunteering and Civic Engagement Survey.
    OMB Control Number: 0607-0913.
    Form Number(s): None.
    Type of Request: Reinstatement, with change, of an expired 
collection.
    Burden Hours: 2,000.
    Number of Respondents: 8,000.
    Average Hours Per Response: 15 minutes.
    Needs and Uses: The purpose of this request for review is for the 
reinstatement of clearance for the National Youth Volunteering and 
Civic Engagement Survey (NYVCES). Although most questions remain the 
same from the initial submission, questions from the Civic Engagement 
Supplement to the Current Population Survey have been added at the 
request of the Corporation for National and Community Service (the 
Corporation).
    Throughout the history of the United States, Americans have valued 
an ethic of service. Today, Americans of all ages, backgrounds, and 
abilities are donating their time and talents to schools, churches, 
hospitals, and local nonprofits in an effort to improve their 
communities and serve a purpose greater than themselves. According to 
data collected over the past 30 years by the U.S. Census Bureau and the 
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Americans ages 16 and older are 
volunteering at historically high rates, giving their time to help 
others by mentoring students, beautifying neighborhoods, restoring 
homes after disasters, and much, much more.
    To deepen our understanding of volunteering among youth in America 
and to promote its growth, the Corporation has proposed conducting the 
2008 NYVCES. This survey will be a continuation of the youth 
volunteering study conducted in 2005. At that time, Census collected 
information on volunteering and civic engagement from over 3,100 of the 
nation's youth ranging in age from 12 to 18 years old. As with the 
annual collection of adult volunteering activities, a recurring survey 
of this population will allow Census to track changes in the attitudes 
and behaviors of America's young people toward volunteering and civic 
engagement. Measuring the level of youth volunteering activities is 
critically important because volunteering is no longer just nice to do. 
It is a necessary aspect of meeting the most pressing needs facing our 
nation: crime, gangs, poverty, disasters, illiteracy, and homelessness.
    Data collection activities for the 2008 NYVCES are scheduled to 
begin in the fall of 2008. Respondents will provide information on 
their participation in volunteering and civic engagement activities for 
the twelve-month period that includes the 2007-2008 academic year and 
the 2008 summer break. This reference period will be similar to the 
reference period used in the September Current Population Survey (CPS) 
Volunteer Supplement and the reference period used in the upcoming 2008 
CPS Voting and Civic Engagement Supplement. The design of the survey, 
which includes questions also asked in the Volunteer and Voting and 
Civic Engagement Supplements, will allow for our evaluation of youth 
volunteering to be informed by the overall context of volunteering and 
civic engagement activities taking place across America by all age 
groups. All interviews will be conducted at the Census Bureau's 
Telephone Centers using Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) 
technology.
    The chief purpose of the 2008 survey is to collect information on 
the motivations, attitudes, experiences, and demographics of youth in 
relation to volunteering, participation in school-based service and 
other forms of civic engagement, which will be utilized in promoting, 
managing, and evaluating volunteer participation at the national level 
for youth ranging in age from 12 to 18. A study of this rarely-
evaluated segment of the volunteering population will provide important 
information to the Corporation, the federal agency responsible for 
providing national and community service opportunities for millions of 
Americans. For example, the Corporation's Learn and Serve America 
program encourages civic participation and volunteerism throughout the 
country by supporting service-learning programs that help more than one 
million young people, from kindergarten through college, meet community 
needs while improving their academic skills and learning the habits of 
good citizenship each year. Through the survey, Learn and Serve America 
will gain valuable information on teens' experience with and their 
attitudes towards service-learning, civic engagement, and volunteerism.
    Not only can teens make positive contributions toward meeting 
community needs through their volunteer activities, the behaviors and 
attitudes toward volunteering and civic engagement during childhood are 
reliable predictors of their behaviors and attitudes in adulthood. 
Through the survey, the AmeriCorps program, which provides service 
opportunities for

[[Page 35121]]

Americans seventeen and older, will gain valuable information on the 
attitudes of this population toward national and community service. By 
understanding the unique needs and motivations of the teen population, 
we can better work to engage them in service both now and in the long 
term.
    Federal, state, and local agencies, nonprofit organizations and 
associations, schools, volunteer centers, and community and corporate 
foundations, among others, will use the data from this survey to 
promote the growth of active teen participation and engagement in the 
community. Participation patterns and trend information will assist in 
identifying effective strategies for attracting teens to community 
service and encouraging them to become actively involved in public and 
community service.
    This survey will collect priority data on educational attainment 
and school activities, participation in school-based service and 
volunteer activities, attitudes toward national and community service, 
and civic attitudes and behaviors. The survey will also collect 
information on types of organizations with which teens serve, the work 
teens perform at these organizations, the attitudes and motivations of 
teens that volunteer, and the reasons why some teens stop volunteering.
    Affected Public: Individuals or households.
    Frequency: On occasion.
    Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.
    Legal Authority: Title 13, United States Code, Section 8.
    OMB Desk Officer: Brian Harris-Kojetin, (202) 395-7314.
    Copies of the above information collection proposal can be obtained 
by calling or writing Diana Hynek, Departmental Paperwork Clearance 
Officer, (202) 482-0266, Department of Commerce, Room 6625, 14th and 
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20230 (or via the Internet at 
[email protected]).
    Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information 
collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice 
to Brian Harris-Kojetin, OMB Desk Officer either by fax (202-395-7245) 
or e-mail ([email protected]).

    Dated: June 16, 2008.
Gwellnar Banks,
Management Analyst, Office of the Chief Information Officer.
 [FR Doc. E8-13909 Filed 6-19-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-07-P