[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 135 (Tuesday, July 15, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41249-41251]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-16586]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food and Nutrition Service


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request--Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) 
Employment and Training Study

AGENCY: Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, this 
notice invites the general public and other public agencies to comment 
on the proposed information collection. This is a new collection for 
the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Employment and 
Training (E&T) Study.

ADDRESSES: Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection 
of information is necessary for the proper performance of Agency 
functions, including whether the information shall have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the Agency's estimated burden of the 
proposed information collection, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions that were used; (c) ways to enhance the 
quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and 
(d) ways to minimize the burden of the information collection on 
respondents, including use of appropriate automated, electronic, 
mechanical, or other technological methods of data collection.
    Written comments may be sent to: Richard Lucas, Office of Policy 
Support, Food and Nutrition Service, USDA, 3101 Park Center Drive, Room 
1014, Alexandria, VA 22302. Comments may also be submitted via fax to 
the attention of Richard Lucas at 703-305-2576 or via email to 
[email protected].
    Comments will also be accepted through the Federal eRulemaking 
Portal. Go to http://www.regulations.gov, and follow the online 
instructions for submitting comments electronically.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before September 15, 
2014.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request more information on the 
proposed project or to obtain a copy of the data collection plans, 
contact Richard Lucas, Office of Policy Support, Food and Nutrition 
Service, USDA, 3101 Park Center Drive, Room 1014, Alexandria, VA 22302. 
Comments may also be submitted via fax to the attention of Richard 
Lucas at 703-305-2576 or via email to [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:  Title: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance 
Program (SNAP) Employment and Training Study
    Form Number: N/A.
    OMB Number: 0584-NEW.
    Expiration Date: Not yet determined.
    Type of Request: New collection.

[[Page 41250]]

    Abstract: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) 
serves as a safety net for families who are having difficulty obtaining 
adequate nutrition. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food and 
Nutrition Service (FNS), which administers SNAP, also administers the 
SNAP Employment and Training (E&T) Program to assist members of 
households participating in SNAP in gaining skills, training or 
experience to ``increase their ability to obtain regular employment'' 
(Food Security Act of 1985). Congress established the SNAP Employment 
and Training program through the Food Security Act of 1985.
    Of the 47 million people who received SNAP benefits in fiscal year 
2013, 13.3 million were designated as work registrants (they were not 
federally exempt from SNAP work requirements and subject to mandatory 
participation in an E&T program \1\), and about 629,000 people actually 
participated in an E&T program.
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    \1\ Federally exempt individuals include those who are younger 
than 16 or older than 59, disabled, working 30 hours a week or 
taking part in another work program, receiving unemployment, caring 
for an incapacitated adult or a child under age 6, in a drug or 
alcohol treatment program, or enrolled at least half time in school.
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    It has been 20 years since FNS sought information about the 
characteristics of work registrants, E&T participants, and the 
providers that serve them. This nationally representative study will 
identify the characteristics of registrants and participants, the 
challenges they face and the E&T services available to SNAP 
participants. The information generated will help FNS understand how 
these programs serve clients, what participants need to develop their 
skills, and whether current programs meet clients' needs.
    This study has three objectives: (1) To provide FNS with a detailed 
description of the characteristics of SNAP work registrants and SNAP 
E&T participants; (2) to describe the needs and challenges faced by 
registrants and participants in finding and retaining employment in the 
changing economy; and (3) to describe the characteristics of the E&T 
service providers and the types of services available to participants. 
To meet these objectives, data will be collected from two sources:
     Surveys. A nationally representative sample of SNAP work 
registrants and E&T participants, along with a sample of E&T providers, 
will be surveyed for the study. Twenty-five states were randomly 
sampled using a stratified probability proportional to size (or PPS) 
sampling design for national representativeness.
    Data on the number of work registrants and E&T participants by 
state as of fiscal year 2013 were used to create a composite size 
measure for sampling (measure of size). States with a measure of size 
large enough to be included in the sample of 25 states with probability 
of one were called ``certainty states'' and were automatically included 
in the sample. The remaining states were selected based on their 
measure of size and type of work activities offered by the E&T 
programs.
    A total of 3,000 survey interviews (1,500 work registrants and 
1,500 E&T participants) are planned from across the 25 states. A target 
number of interviews will be assigned to each state based on the 
state's share of the work registrant and E&T participant populations. 
Sampled individuals will be surveyed by telephone or online about their 
experiences in SNAP and the E&T program. SNAP work registrants and E&T 
participants will receive an advance letter about the survey 
instructing them to take the survey online or to call to complete the 
survey by phone. The survey will take 20 minutes to complete. Follow-up 
letters throughout the 10-week survey period will be sent to people who 
have not responded, including a ``time is running out'' letter with a 
$5 pre-incentive in week seven. Respondents will receive a $40 
incentive if they complete the interview online or initiate and 
complete the interview by phone. They will receive a $20 incentive if 
the evaluator initiates the call and the respondent completes the 
interview by phone.
    For the SNAP E&T provider survey, providers will be randomly 
sampled from across the 25 states after the E&T participant sample is 
selected. The providers will be limited to those serving the areas in 
which the SNAP E&T sample resides. The provider survey will describe 
the characteristics of providers and the services they offer, as well 
as the types of skills E&T participants have and how those skills match 
the skills needed by employers in the area. The provider survey will be 
conducted online and will take about 15 minutes to complete.
    Providers will be able to complete the survey by telephone, if 
necessary, and will not be offered an incentive.
     Focus groups. Fifteen focus groups with about 8 SNAP E&T 
participants each (a total of 120 participants) will be conducted in 
five states. The focus group locations will be selected to represent 
variation in geography and type of program. Participants in the focus 
groups will be selected using administrative data and will represent a 
broad range of demographic characteristics. The focus group 
discussions, which will last about 90 minutes, will delve into detail 
about participants' experiences with SNAP E&T, and will provide a 
better understanding of participants' skill sets, training needs and 
barriers to education, training and employment. All participants will 
receive a $25 stipend for participation and transportation.
    Tailored instruments with simple and respondent-friendly language 
will be used for the survey and focus groups. Responses to all 
questions will be voluntary. The contractor will follow two rules to 
ensure that respondent data are treated confidentially: (1) No data 
will be released in a form that identifies individual respondents by 
name, and (2) information collected through interviews will be combined 
across other respondents in the same category and reported only in 
aggregate form. Respondents will be notified of these confidentiality 
rules during data collection. All data will be recorded on a password-
protected laptop. At the end of each session, the recordings will be 
sent to a data transcription service via a secure file transfer 
protocol (FTP) site. All recordings and transcripts will be stored on a 
256-bit encrypted secure server and available only to those with a 
valid user identification and password.
    Other data collections will include the use of state administrative 
data to examine characteristics of work registrants and E&T 
participants. This data will also be used to create the sampling frames 
for the surveys and focus groups.
    Affected Public:
    Members of the public affected by the data collection include 
individuals and households. Respondent groups identified include (1) 
SNAP work registrants, (2) SNAP E&T participants, and (3) SNAP E&T 
providers.
    Estimated Number of Respondents:
    The study will include 5,206 people across 25 states (see table 
below). Of those, an estimated 1,586 will likely refuse to respond, 
will be ineligible or will not show up for a focus group. An estimated 
3,620 people will participate in the study or focus groups (1,500 work 
registrants; 1,620 E&T participants (1,500 for the survey and 120 for 
the focus groups); and 500 E&T providers).
    Estimated Number of Responses per Respondent:
    Each respondent in the work registrant survey, E&T participant 
survey, provider survey and focus group will provide one response.
    Estimated Time per Response:

[[Page 41251]]

    For the work registrant and participant surveys, the burden 
estimate for each respondent is 0.42 hours (25 minutes), including time 
to read the advance letter and complete the survey. For survey 
nonrespondents, the burden estimate is 0.08 hours (5 minutes), 
including time to read the advance letter and field a call regarding 
the survey. For the SNAP E&T provider survey, the burden estimate is 
0.33 hours (20 minutes) for each respondent, including time to read the 
advance letter and complete the survey. For provider survey 
nonrespondents, the burden estimate is 0.08 hours (5 minutes), 
including time to read the advance letter and field a call regarding 
the survey. For all participants in the focus groups, the burden 
estimate is 1.67 hours (100 minutes). This includes eligibility 
screening, receiving a reminder call, reading a reminder letter and 
participating in the group. For all those who decline to participate in 
the focus groups, the burden estimate is 0.08 hours (5 minutes), 
including the time to be screened (see the table below).
    Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents and Nonrespondents: 
SNAP work registrants, E&T participants, and providers will be 
interviewed or will participate in a focus group only once. Thus, the 
total hours for this effort is 1,748.9, including 625 hours for 
respondents to the SNAP work registrant survey and 39.5 hours for 
nonrespondents; 625 hours for the SNAP E&T participant survey and 39.5 
hours for nonrespondents; 166.7 hours for respondents to the SNAP E&T 
provider survey and 13.2 hours for nonrespondents; and 200 hours for 
the focus group participants and 40 hours for the nonparticipants. The 
number of survey nonrespondents is based on the assumption that the 
sample will contain 1,974 people for each group (work registrants and 
E&T participants) and 658 providers, of which 95 percent will be 
eligible for the survey, and 80 percent of those will complete the 
survey. The burden for E&T participants in the focus groups is 
estimated at 200 hours; for people who elect not to participate in the 
focus groups (nonparticipants), the estimated total burden is 40 hours.
    The number of nonparticipants is based on the assumption that to 
have 120 people attend the focus groups, 300 people need to be 
recruited. To recruit 300 people, twice as many, or 600, will need to 
be contacted initially (five-to-one ratio).

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                                                                    Estimated       Responses                       Estimated average
           Affected public                  Respondent type         number of     annually per    Total annual     number of hours per       Estimated
                                                                   respondents     respondent       responses            response           total hours
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Individuals & households.............  SNAP work registrants              1,500               1           1,500  0.42 (25 minutes)......           625.0
                                        survey respondents a.
                                       SNAP work registrant                 474               1             474  0.08 (5 minutes).......            39.5
                                        survey nonresponders a.
                                       SNAP E&T participant               1,500               1           1,500  0.42 (25 minutes)......           625.0
                                        survey respondents a.
                                       SNAP E&T participant                 474               1             474  0.08 (5 minutes).......            39.5
                                        survey nonresponders a.
                                       SNAP E&T provider survey             500               1             500  0.33 (20 minutes)......           166.7
                                        respondents a.
                                       SNAP E&T provider survey             158               1             158  0.08 (5 minutes).......            13.2
                                        nonresponders a.
                                       SNAP E&T focus group                 120               1             120  1.67 (100 minutes).....           200.0
                                        participants b.
                                       SNAP E&T focus group                 480               1             480  0.08 (5 minutes).......            40.0
                                        nonparticipants c.
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    Total............................  ........................           5,206  ..............           5,206  .......................         1,748.9
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a An advance letter will be sent before contacting the individual for an interview.
b Focus group participants will take part in a brief screening call or interview, participate in the focus group, and receive a reminder call and letter
  before the focus group.
c Focus group nonparticipants include individuals who refuse to participate, are ineligible, or do not show up for the focus group. These individuals
  will participate in a brief screening call or interview.


     Dated: July 8, 2014.
Audrey Rowe,
FNS Administrator, Food and Nutrition Service.
[FR Doc. 2014-16586 Filed 7-14-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-30-P