[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 109 (Wednesday, June 6, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Page 33392]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-13728]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

National Institute of Food and Agriculture


Notice of Intent to Request an Extension of a Currently Approved 
Information Collection

AGENCY: National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
regulations that implement the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this 
notice announces the National Institute of Food and Agriculture's 
(NIFA) intention to request approval for an extension of a currently 
approved information collection for Children, Youth, and Families at 
Risk (CYFAR).

DATES: Written comments on this notice must be received by August 6, 
2012 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: Email: [email protected]; Fax: 202-720-0857; 
Mail: Office of Information Technology (OIT), NIFA, USDA, STOP 2216, 
1400 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20250-2216.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gidel Mendez, eGovernment Program 
Leader; Email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title: Children, Youth, and Families at Risk 
(CYFAR) Year End Report.
    OMB Number: 0524-0043.
    Expiration Date of Current Approval: January 31, 2011
    Type of Request: Intent to seek approval for the extension of a 
currently approved information collection for three years.
    Abstract: Funding for the Children, Youth, and Families at Risk 
(CYFAR) community project grants 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 
NIFA staff to gauge whether the program is reaching the target audience 
and make programmatic improvements. This collection also allows program 
staff to demonstrate the impacts that are realized as well as program 
capacity that is realized 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 Act) (Pub. L. 105-207), 
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 benefits 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 3 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. NIFA estimates the burden of this 
collection to be 322 hours per response. There are currently 51 
respondents, thus making the total annual burden of this collection an 
estimated 16,422 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 (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.
    All responses to this notice will be summarized and included in the 
request to OMB for approval. All comments will become a matter of 
public record.

    Done in Washington, DC, this 29th day of May, 2012.
Catherine E. Woteki,
Under Secretary, Research, Education, and Economics.
[FR Doc. 2012-13728 Filed 6-5-12; 8:45 am]
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