[Federal Register: September 9, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 174)]
[Notices]
[Page 54684-54685]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr09se04-90]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Children and Families
Proposed Information Collection Activity; Comment Request
Proposed Projects
Title: HHS/ACF/ASPE/DOL Enhanced Services for the Hard-to-Employ
Demonstration and Evaluation Project Follow-up Surveys.
OMB No.: New collection.
Description: The Enhanced Services for the Hard-to-Employ
Demonstration and Evaluation Project (HtE) is the most ambitious,
comprehensive effort to learn what works in this area to date and is
explicitly designed to build on previous and ongoing research by
rigorously testing a wide variety of approaches to promote employment
and improve family functioning and child well-being. The HtE project
will ``conduct a multi-site evaluation that studies the implementation
issues, program design, net impact and benefit-costs of selected
programs'' \1\ designed to help Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
(TANF) recipients, former TANF recipients, or low-income parents who
are hard-to-employ. The project is sponsored by the Office of Planning,
Research and Evaluation (OPRE) of the Administration for children and
Families (ACF), the Office of the Assistance Secretary for Planning and
Evaluation (ASPE) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS), and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).
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\1\ From the Department of Health and Human Services RFP No.:
233-01-0012.
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The evaluation involves an experimental, random assignment design
in five sites (four are confirmed), testing a diverse set of strategies
to promote employment for low-income parents who face serious obstacles
to employment. The four include: (1) Intensive care management to
facilitate the use of evidence-based treatment for major depression
among parents receiving Medicaid in Rhode Island; (2) job readiness
training, worksite
[[Page 54685]]
placements, job coaching, job development and other training
opportunities for recent parolees in New York City; (3) pre-employment
services and transitional employment for long-term TANF participants in
Philadelphia; and (4) home- and center-based care for low-income
families who have young children or are expecting in Kansas and
Missouri. The latter is a two-generation test, designed to help the
children and their parents.
Over the next several years, the HtE project will generate a wealth
of rigorous data on implementation, effects, and costs of these
alternative approaches. The follow-up surveys will be used for the
following purposes:
To study the extent to which different HtE approaches
impact employment, earnings, income, welfare dependence, and the
presence or persistence of employment barriers.
To study how different HtE strategies impact child well-
being, when programs are directed toward parents, and when they are
designed to target both generations.
To collect data on a wider range of outcome measures than
is available through Welfare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, Social Security,
the Criminal Justice System or Unemployment Insurance records in order
to understand the family circumstances and attributes and situations
that contribute to the difficulties in finding employment; job
retention and job quality; educational attainment; interactions with
and knowledge of the HtE program; household composition; child care;
transportation; health care; income; physical and mental health
problems; substance abuse; domestic violence; and criminal history.
To conduct non-experimental analyses to explain
participation decisions and provide a descriptive picture of the
circumstances of individuals who are hard-to-employ.
To obtain participation information important to the
evaluation's benefit-cost component; and to obtain contact information
for possible future follow-up, information that will be important to
achieving high response rates for additional surveys.
Materials for the HtE baseline survey were previously submitted to
OMB on April 29, 2003, and a revised packet for the Rhode Island site
was submitted on April 7, 2004. Both submissions have been approved by
OMB.
The purpose of this submission is to introduce the five survey
instruments that will be used to collect follow-up data in the four
confirmed sites. These are as follows:
1. A 6-month follow-up survey in Rhode island (Mental Health Test).
2. A 15-month follow-up survey in Rhode island (Mental Health
Test).
3. A 12-month follow-up survey in new York City (Recent Parolees).
4. A 12-month follow-up survey in Philadelphia (Transitional
Employment for long-term TANF participants).
b. A 12-month follow-up in Kansas and Missouri (Two-Generation
Test).
We believe that content for the fifth site's 12-month survey will
be drawn from questions already included in these follow-up surveys.
Respondents: The respondents to these follow-up surveys will be
low-income individuals from the five states represented by the four
sites currently participating in the HtE Project: Kansas, Missouri, New
York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. Many will be current or former
TANF participants, and many will be current or former recipients of
Medicaid. These populations are at heightened risk for all of the
barriers that cause people to be hard-to-employ.
Prior to these follow-up surveys, basic demographic information for
all survey respondents will have been obtained wherever possible from
the existing automated systems or brief baseline information forms. In
the Rhode Island site, respondents will have completed a more detailed
baseline survey, which is required to establish baseline measures of
depression and related conditions.
The annual burden estimates are detailed below, and the substantive
content of each survey will be detailed in the supporting statement
attached to the forthcoming 30-day notice.
Annual Burden Estimates
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Number of
Instrument Number of responses per Average burden hours Total burden
LI>respondents respondent per response hours
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6-month, Rhode Island................ 734 1 38 minutes or .63 hrs.. 464.87
15-month, Rhode Island............... 734 1 77 minutes or 1.28 hrs. 941.97
12-month, New York City.............. 500 1 32 minutes or .53 hrs.. 266.67
12-month, Philadelphia............... 750 1 25 minutes or .42 hrs.. 312.5
12-month, Kansas/Missouri............ 680 1 52 minutes or .87 hrs.. 589.33
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Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours: 2,575.34.
In compliance with the requirements of section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Administration for Children and
Families is soliciting public comment on the specific aspects fo the
information collection described above. Copies of hte proposed
collection of information can be obtained and comments may be forwarded
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. E-mail
address: grjohnson@acf.hhs.gov. All requests should be identified by
the title of the information collection.
The Department specifically requests comments 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; (c) the quality, utility, and clarity of the information
to be collected; and (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.
Consideration will be given to comments and suggestions submitted
within 60 days of this publication.
Dated: September 2, 2004.
Robert Sargis,
Reports Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 04-20371 Filed 9-8-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-01-M