[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 248 (Monday, December 29, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 78027-78029]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-30373]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

Food and Nutrition Service


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request--Evaluation of Demonstration Projects To End Childhood 
Hunger

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 this proposed information collection. This is a new collection for 
the contract Evaluation of Demonstration Projects to End Childhood 
Hunger.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before February 27, 
2015.

ADDRESSES: 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 shall have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information, 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 collection of information on 
those who are to respond, including use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology.
    Written comments may be sent to: Danielle Berman, 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 Danielle 
Berman 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.
    All responses to this notice will be summarized and included in the 
request for Office of Management and Budget approval. All comments will 
be a matter of public record.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
copies of this information collection should be directed to Danielle 
Berman, Office of Policy Support, Food and Nutrition Service, USDA, 
3101 Park Center Drive, Room 1014, Alexandria, VA 22302.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: Evaluation of Demonstration Projects to End Childhood 
Hunger.
    Form Number: N/A.
    OMB Number: 0584-NEW.
    Expiration Date: Not Yet Determined.
    Type of Request: New Collection.
    Abstract: The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA) of 2010 (Public 
Law 111-296), under Section 141, added a new Section 23 on Childhood 
Hunger Research to the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act.
    This section provides substantial new mandatory funding to research 
the causes and consequences of childhood hunger and to test innovative 
strategies to end child hunger and food insecurity. Congress called for 
the development and evaluation of innovative strategies to ``reduce the 
risk of childhood hunger or provide a significant improvement to the 
food security status of households with children,'' including 
alternative models of service delivery or benefit levels.
    The purpose of the evaluation is to rigorously assess the impact of 
five demonstration projects on the prevalence of child food insecurity, 
and other relevant outcomes. The demonstration projects are intended to 
test innovative strategies to end childhood hunger, including 
alternative models for service delivery and benefit levels that promote 
the reduction or elimination of childhood hunger and food insecurity. 
Projects may include enhanced Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program 
(SNAP) benefits for eligible households with children; enhanced 
benefits or innovative program delivery models in school meals 
programs, afterschool snacks programs, and the Child and Adult Care 
Food Program (CACFP); and other targeted Federal, State or local 
assistance, including refundable tax credits, emergency housing, 
employment and training, or family preservation services, for 
households with children who are experiencing food insecurity. At least 
one demonstration must be implemented in a rural Indian reservation 
where the prevalence of diabetes exceeds 15 percent. Demonstration 
projects will be selected and announced in early 2015.
    The evaluation will collect data from all five demonstration 
projects in 2015 and 2016 (two rounds of data collection), and from one 
demonstration project in 2017 (three rounds of data collection). The 
data will be used for implementation, cost, and impact analyses for 
each demonstration project. Analyses include (1) which agencies and 
partner organizations delivered services, (2) whether the way the 
demonstration model was implemented has an effect on any observed 
impacts, (3) the resources used in planning, starting up, and operating 
each demonstration project, and how those resources compare to those 
for the control or comparison groups, and (4) how cost effective the 
demonstration was in reducing childhood food insecurity. The primary 
outcome measure for the demonstrations will be the change in the 
prevalence of food insecurity among children in households with 
children as measured by the U.S. Household Food Security Survey Module. 
The end products will provide scientifically valid evidence of 
demonstration project impacts.
    Affected Public: Individuals/households; State, local and Tribal 
governments; Private sector (for-profit and not-for-profit).
    Estimated Number of Respondents: The total estimated number of 
respondents is 27,297. This includes 27,107 individuals/households, 150 
State, local, and Tribal government directors/managers and staff, and 
40 private sector for-profit business and not-for-profit agency 
directors/managers. FNS will contact 27,107 individuals/households, out 
of which 22,589 parents/guardians in the treatment and comparison 
groups will complete telephone surveys and 4,518 parents/guardians will 
be survey nonrespondents. The survey sample sizes are large because 
they are needed to detect statistically significant differences in the 
key outcome of interest--child food insecurity--between treatment and 
comparison households within each demonstration site. Among the 
parents/guardians contacted for the telephone surveys, 456 will also be 
contacted for the focus

[[Page 78028]]

groups; 96 parents/guardians will participate in the focus groups and 
360 will be considered nonrespondents. A total of 320 parents/guardians 
will also be contacted for an in-person interview; 80 parents/guardians 
will be interviewees and 240 will be considered nonrespondents. FNS 
will contact 50 State, local and Tribal agency directors/managers and 
100 State, local and Tribal agency direct service staff for in-person 
interviews; 5 of the directors/managers will provide administrative 
data and 5 will provide cost data. FNS will contact 10 private sector 
for-profit business directors/managers for in person interviews; 5 will 
also provide administrative data. FNS will also contact 30 private 
sector not-for-profit agency directors/managers for in person 
interviews, and 5 will also provide cost data.
    Estimated Frequency of Responses per Respondent: Average 2.09 
responses for individuals/households, 3.20 responses for State, local 
or Tribal government representatives, and 5.90 responses for private 
sector representatives.
    Estimated Total Annual Responses: 57,458.
    Estimated Time per Response: About 0.51 hours (31 minutes). The 
estimated time of response varies from 0.50 to 2.33 hours depending on 
the respondent group, as shown in the table below. The total annual 
burden is 25,157.13 hours.

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                                                                                                                                      Respondents                                          Non-respondents
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                                                                                                                                                    Average    Total                                        Average    Total     GRAND
             Affected public                 Data collection activity          Respondents type        Sample    Estimated   Frequency    Total     burden     annual    Estimated   Frequency    Total     burden    annual     total
                                                                                                        size     number of       of       annual     hours     burden    number of       of       annual     hours    burden     burden
                                                                                                                respondents   response  responses     per     estimate      non-      response  responses     per    estimate   estimate
                                                                                                                                                   response   (hours)   respondents                        response   (hours)
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Individuals/households...................  Telephone survey............  Parent/guardian............    24,755      20,629           2     41,258      0.50  20,629.00       4,126           2      8,252      0.05    412.60  21,041.60
                                           (two rounds)................
                                           Telephone survey............  Parent/guardian............     2,352       1,960           3      5,880      0.50   2,940.00         392           3      1,176      0.05     58.80   2,998.80
                                           (three rounds)..............
                                           In-person focus group.......  Parent/guardian............       456          96           1         96      1.67     160.13         360           1        360      0.08     28.80     188.93
                                           In-person interview.........  Parent/guardian............       320          80           1         80      1.67     133.60         240           1        240      0.08     19.20     152.80
                                                                                                     -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Subtotal individuals/households........  ............................  ...........................    27,107      22,589   .........     47,314  ........  23,862.73       4,518   .........      9,428  ........    519.40  24,382.13
State, local, and Tribal government......  In-person interview (two      State, local, or Tribal            40          40           2         80      1.00      80.00           0           2          0      0.08      0.00      80.00
                                            rounds).                      agency director/manager.
                                           In-person interview (three    State, local, or Tribal            10          10           3         30      1.00      30.00           0           3          0      0.08      0.00      30.00
                                            rounds).                      agency director/manager.
                                           In-person interview (two      State, local, or Tribal            80          80           2        160      1.00     160.00           0           2          0      0.08      0.00     160.00
                                            rounds).                      agency direct service
                                                                          staff.
                                           In-person interview (three    State, local, or Tribal            20          20           3         60      1.00      60.00           0           3          0      0.08      0.00      60.00
                                            rounds).                      agency direct service
                                                                          staff.
                                           Provide administrative data.  State, local, or Tribal             5           5          24        120      0.83      99.60           0           1          0      0.08      0.00      99.60
                                                                          agency director/manager.
                                           Provide cost data...........  State, local, or Tribal             5           5           6         30      2.33      69.90           0           1          0      0.08      0.00      69.90
                                                                          agency director/manager.
                                                                                                     -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Subtotal State, local, and Tribal        ............................  150........................       150  ...........        480  .........    499.50          0  ...........          0  .........      0.00    499.50
   government.
Private sector...........................  In-person interview.........  Private sector for-profit          10          10           2         20      0.50      10.00           0           2          0      0.08      0.00      10.00
                                                                          business director/manager.
                                           Provide administrative data.  Private sector for-profit           5           5          24        120      0.83      99.60           0           1          0      0.08      0.00      99.60
                                                                          business director/manager.
                                           In-person interview (two      Private sector not-for-            24          24           2         48      1.00      48.00           0           2          0      0.08      0.00      48.00
                                            rounds).                      profit agency director/
                                                                          manager.
                                           In-person interview (three    Private sector not-for-             6           6           3         18      1.00      48.00           0           3          0      0.08      0.00      48.00
                                            rounds).                      profit agency director/
                                                                          manager.
                                           Provide cost data...........  Private sector not-for-             5           5           6         30      2.33      69.90           0           1          0      0.08      0.00      69.90
                                                                          profit agency director/
                                                                          manager.
  Subtotal private sector................  ............................  ...........................        40          40   .........        236  ........     275.50           0   .........          0  ........      0.00     275.50
                                                                                                     -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Grand total........................  ............................  ...........................    27,297      22,779        2.11     48,030      0.51  24,637.73       4,518        2.09      9,428      0.06    519.40  25,157.13
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[[Page 78029]]

    Dated: December 16, 2014.
Audrey Rowe,
Administrator, Food and Nutrition Service.
[FR Doc. 2014-30373 Filed 12-24-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-30-P