[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 158 (Wednesday, August 17, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50613-50614]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-17650]


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CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICE


Agency Information Collection Activities; Comment Request; 
Application Package for AmeriCorps Program Life Cycle Evaluation--
Climate Change Bundled Evaluation

AGENCY: Corporation for National and Community Service.

ACTION: Notice of information collection; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the 
Corporation for National and Community Service, operating as 
AmeriCorps, is proposing a new information collection.

DATES: Written comments must be submitted to the individual and office 
listed in the ADDRESSES section by October 17, 2022.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by the title of the 
information collection activity, by any of the following methods:
    (1) By mail sent to: AmeriCorps, Attention Jehyra M. Asencio-Yace, 
250 E Street SW, Washington, DC 20525.
    (2) By hand delivery or by courier to the AmeriCorps mailroom at 
the mail address given in paragraph (1) above, between 9 a.m. and 4 
p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
    (3) Electronically through www.regulations.gov.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice may be made available 
to the public through regulations.gov. For this reason, please do not 
include in your comments information of a confidential nature, such as 
sensitive personal information or proprietary information. If you send 
an email comment, your email address will be automatically captured and 
included as part of the comment that is placed in the public docket and 
made available on the internet. Please note that responses to this 
public comment request containing any routine notice about the 
confidentiality of the communication will be treated as public comment 
that may be made available to the public, notwithstanding the inclusion 
of the routine notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Xiaodong Zhang, 703-251-0883, or by 
email at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title of Collection: AmeriCorps Program Life Cycle Evaluation--
Climate Change Bundled Evaluation.
    OMB Control Number: TBD. Type of Review: New.
    Respondents/Affected Public: Grantee and sponsor organizations, 
national service members, community members, and partner organization 
staff.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 610 responses.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 232 hours.
    Abstract: The purpose of this evaluation is to provide insight on 
the implementation of the climate change bundle programs and explore 
variation in activities for education and training, disaster response, 
conservation, wildfire mitigation, and energy efficiency. It will 
explore the ways in which the programs influence community resilience. 
It will also examine changes in attitudes and behaviors toward civic 
engagement among national service members and the development of job 
skills, including skills for green jobs. Finally, it will examine how 
the programs are serving vulnerable communities and at-risk 
populations. The research questions for this evaluation will be:
    1. How do programs/members connect their work to climate change?
    2. To what extent does the program include opportunities to 
increase equity?
    3. To what extent is the program operating as intended?
    4. What are some promising practices and some challenges in 
implementing the climate change grant programs?
    5. What were the barriers and facilitators to meet the intended 
outcomes of the program?
    6. What are the lessons learned that can inform the field or be 
useful for practitioners that work in this space?
    7. What is the likelihood that the program will be sustained beyond 
the grant?
    8. How were the communities and community members impacted by 
climate change prior to the program?
    9. What types of communities are being helped by the climate change 
grant programs?
    10. To what extent are programs focused on vulnerable populations 
and communities?
    11. What are the demographic characteristics of national service 
members (e.g., gender, age, race, ethnicity, education)?
    12. How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect program operations?
    13. How did the COVID-19 pandemic affect national service members?
    14. What partner organizations are involved (e.g., community 
organizations, local agencies)? What are their roles in the program?
    15. What is the breadth (number and type of partnership), quality, 
and quantity of the partnership(s) (number and frequency of joint 
activities and their strength)?
    16. How were partnerships built and maintained?
    17. How do grantee and sponsor organizations work with partners to 
build community resilience?
    18. To what extent do the climate change grant programs:
    a. improve energy efficiency and increase the use of renewable 
energy sources?
    b. help communities prepare, respond, and recover from natural 
disasters and other climate change effects?
    c. preserve public lands and waterways and protect or restore 
biodiversity?
    d. increase community members' knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors 
around climate change?
    e. build capacity of the community to be resilient?
    19. How do the climate change grant programs lead to increased 
civic engagement?
    20. In what ways does participation in the climate change grant 
programs influence national service members' job skills development 
toward green jobs?
    21. To what extent does participation in the climate change grant 
programs:
    a. increase national service members' functional and technical job 
skills?
    b. increase national service members' interest/willingness to 
pursue a career in a green job?
    c. lead to a job after their service?
    d. lead to a career in a green job after their service?
    ICF will conduct a bundled evaluation of grantees and sponsors

[[Page 50614]]

with an explicit emphasis on activities related to addressing climate 
change. By bundling, this evaluation combines programs and projects 
with similar program approaches into a single evaluation. Spanning 32 
months, the evaluation includes up to 30 grantees and sponsors to 
examine program design, implementation, and outcomes using surveys, 
interviews, and focus groups with a wide range of stakeholders 
including grantee and sponsor staff, partner organizations, national 
service members, and community members. This is a new information 
collection.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and/or included in the request for OMB approval. Comments are invited 
on: (a) whether the 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 collection of information; (c) 
ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to 
be collected; (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of 
information on respondents, including through the use of automated 
collection techniques or other forms of information technology; and (e) 
estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation, 
maintenance, and purchase of services to provide information. Burden 
means the total time, effort, or financial resources expended by 
persons to generate, maintain, retain, disclose, or provide information 
to or for a Federal agency. This includes the time needed to review 
instructions; to develop, acquire, install, and use technology and 
systems for the purpose of collecting, validating, and verifying 
information, processing and maintaining information, and disclosing and 
providing information; to train personnel to be able to respond to a 
collection of information, to search data sources, and to complete and 
review the collection of information; and to transmit or otherwise 
disclose the information. All written comments will be available for 
public inspection on regulations.gov.

    Dated: August 11, 2022.
Mary Hyde,
Director, Office of Research and Evaluation.
[FR Doc. 2022-17650 Filed 8-16-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6050-28-P