[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 141 (Thursday, July 23, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Page 43706]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-18104]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

National Institute of Food and Agriculture


Notice of Intent To Renew a Currently Approved Information 
Collection

AGENCY: National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), USDA.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In accordance with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
regulations (5 CFR 1320) that implement the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35), this notice announces the National 
Institute of Food and Agriculture's (NIFA) intention to request 
approval for the renewal of a currently approved information collection 
for Children, Youth, and Families at Risk (CYFAR).

DATES: Written comments on this notice must be received by September 
21, 2015 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: Robert Martin, 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, 2016.
    Type of Request: Intent to seek renewal 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 if the program is reaching the target audience and 
make programmatic improvements. This collection also allows program 
staff to demonstrate the impacts and capacity that is developed 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) (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 goods 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 40 
states. 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 12,880 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 15 day of July, 2015.
Ann Bartuska,
Deputy Under Secretary, Research, Education, and Economics.
[FR Doc. 2015-18104 Filed 7-22-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-22-P