[Federal Register: November 18, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 222)]
[Notices]
[Page 65073-65074]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr18no03-69]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Children and Families
Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request
Title: HHS/ACF Rural Welfare-to-Work Strategies Demonstration
Evaluation Project 30-Month Survey.
OMB No.: New Collection.
Description: The Rural Welfare-to-Work Strategies Demonstration
Evaluation Project, which was developed and funded by the
Administration for Children and Families (ACF) of the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services (HHS), is a national evaluation to
determine the benefits and cost-effectiveness of methods designed to
aid current or former Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
recipients or other low-income families as they transition from welfare
to the employment arena. This evaluation addresses four research
questions:
[sbull] What are the issues and challenges associated with
operating the new welfare-to-work services and policy approaches being
studied?
[sbull] How effective are the welfare-to-work programs under the
project in increasing employment and earnings and in improving other
measures?
[sbull] What are the net costs of the welfare-to-work programs, and
do the programs' benefits outweigh the costs?
[sbull] What approaches should policymakers and program managers
consider in designing strategies to improve the efficacy of welfare-to-
work strategies for families in rural areas?
The evaluation employs a multi-pronged approach to answer the
research questions. These approaches include: (1) An impact study,
which will examine the differences between control and intervention
groups with respect to factors such as employment rates, earnings, and
welfare receipt; (2) a cost-benefit analysis, which will calculate
estimates of net program cost-effectiveness; and (3) an in-depth
process study, which will identify implementation issues and
challenges, examine program costs, and provide details on how programs
achieve observed results. The data collected during the conduct of this
study will be used for the following purposes:
[sbull] To study rural welfare-to-work programs' effects on factors
such as employment, earnings, educational attainment, and family
composition;
[sbull] to collect data on a wider range of outcome measures--such
as job acquisition, retention, and advancement; job quality;
educational attainment; and employment barriers--than is available
through welfare or unemployment insurance records, in order to
understand how individuals are being affected by the demonstration
programs;
[sbull] to support research on the implementation of welfare-to-
work programs across sites;
[[Page 65074]]
[sbull] to obtain participation and service use information
important to the evaluation's cost-benefit component; and
[sbull] to obtain contact information for a future follow-up survey
that will be important to achieving high response rates for that
survey.
Respondents: The respondents to the 30-month follow-up survey are
current and former TANF recipients, or individuals in families at risk
of needing TANF benefits (working poor, hard-to-employ) from the two
states participating in the evaluation (Illinois and Nebraska). The
survey will be administered to both intervention and control groups in
each participating site. The estimated sample size for the survey is
984 individuals, including projected samples of 504 in Illinois and 480
in Nebraska. The survey will be conducted primarily by telephone, with
field interviews conducted with those individuals who cannot be
interviewed by telephone. OMB already approved the process evaluation
component and 18-month follow-up survey for this study.
Note: Tennessee has been dropped from the study due to
difficulties in recruiting participants to their program. Therefore,
the estimated burden is smaller than the one in the first notice.
Annual Burden Estimates
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of
Instrument Number of responses per Average burden hours per Total burden
respondents respondent response hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
30-month follow-up survey....... 246 1 30 minutes or .5 hours 123
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 123
Additional Information: Copies of the proposed collection may be
obtained by writing to the Administration for Children and Families,
Office of Administration, Office of Information Services, 370 L'Enfant
Promenade, SW., Washington, DC 20447, Attn: ACF Reports Clearance
Officer. All requests should be identified by the title of the information collection. E-mail address: rsargis@acf.hhs.gov.
OMB Comment: OMB is required to make a decision concerning the
collection of information between 30 and 60 days after publication of
this document in the Federal Register. Therefore, a comment is best
assured of having its full effect if OMB receives it within 30 days of
publication. Written comments and recommendations for the proposed
information collection should be sent directly to the following: Office
of Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project, Attn: Desk Officer for ACF, E-mail address: lauren_wittenberg@omb.eop.gov.
Dated: November 10, 2003.
Robert Sargis,
Reports Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 03-28759 Filed 11-17-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-01-M