[Federal Register: September 29, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 188)]
[Notices]
[Page 58122-58123]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr29se04-32]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service
Notice of Intent To Establish an Information Collection
AGENCY: Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service,
USDA.
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
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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 Cooperative
State Research, Education, and Extension Service's (CSREES) intention
to request approval to establish an information collection for the
Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP).
DATES: Written comments on this notice must be received by December 3,
2004 to be assured of consideration. Comments received after that date
will be considered to the extent practicable.
ADDRESSES: Written comments concerning this notice may be mailed to
Jason Hitchcock, E-Government Program Leader, Information Systems and
Technology Management, CSREES, USDA, STOP 2216, 1400 Independence
Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20250-2216 or sent electronically to:
jhitchcock@csrees.usda.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request a copy of the information
collection, contact Jason Hitchcock at (202) 720-4343; facsimile at
(202) 720-0857; or electronically at: jhitchcock@csrees.usda.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP).
OMB Number: 0524-NEW.
Expiration Date of Current Approval: Not applicable.
Type of Request: Intent to seek approval to establish an
information collection for three years.
Abstract: The USDA's CSREES EFNEP is a unique program that began in
1969, designed to reach limited resource audiences, especially youth
and families with young children. EFNEP operates in 50 States of the
United States, American Samoa, Guam, Micronesia, the Commonwealth of
the Northern Marianas, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the Virgin
Islands of the United States. Extension professionals train and
supervise paraprofessionals and volunteers who teach food and nutrition
information and skills to limited resource families and youth.
The objectives of EFNEP are to assist limited resource families and
youth in acquiring the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and changed
behaviors necessary for making diet decisions that are nutritionally
sound, and to contribute to their personal development and the
improvement of the total family diet and nutritional well-being.
[[Page 58123]]
The evaluation processes of EFNEP are consistent with the
requirements of Congressional legislation and OMB. The Government
Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) (Pub. L. 103-62), the
Federal Activities Inventory Reform Act of 1998 (FAIR Act) (Pub. L.
105-270), and the Agricultural, Research, Extension and Education
Reform Act of 1998 (AREERA)(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.
Since 1969, states have annually reported demographic and dietary
behavior change of their EFNEP audience to the Federal Cooperative
Extension Service (CES) EFNEP National Program Leader, at CSREES, or
its preceding agencies, in USDA. Through 1992, the reports were
submitted on OMB approved forms, Forms ES-255 and ES-256. The data
gathered using these forms was of limited usefulness at the State and
local level, and data quality was questionable.
The Evaluation/Reporting System (E/RS) is a database that was
developed to capture the impacts of EFNEP. The system provides a
variety of reports that are useful for management purposes, provides
diagnostic assessments of participant needs, and exports summary data
for State and National assessment of the program's impact. The
specifications for this system were developed by a committee made up of
representatives from across the United States.
E/RS stores information in the form of records about the program
participants, their family structure and their dietary practices. The
system is structured to collect data about adult participants, youth
and youth group members, and staff assignments, and hours worked. The
E/RS consists of separate software sub-systems for the county, state,
and Federal levels. Each county-level system accumulates data about
individuals. This data is exported electronically to the state-level
system. At the state level, university staff imports the data and
create state reports that are exported electronically to the Federal-
level system. By the time the data gets to the Federal level, it is
state compiled data excluding any personal identifying information of
participants. National reports are then created at the Federal level.
Estimate of Burden: Each year, the county offices aggregate local
electronic data into the state report, and transmit it electronically
to CSREES. This requirement constitutes the Federal burden CSREES
imposes on the States and is the only burden measured and accounted for
in this estimate. CSREES estimates that it takes one State or Territory
1,234.5 hours to aggregate the local level information and transmit the
summary information to CSREES. There are a total of 56 responses
annually, thus constituting a total annual estimated burden of 69,132
hours for this information collection.
Comments: Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed
collection of information is necessary for the automated, electronic,
mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms
of information technology.
Done in Washington, DC, this 1st day of September, 2004.
Joseph J. Jen,
Under Secretary, Research, Education, and Economics.
[FR Doc. 04-21752 Filed 9-28-04; 8:45 am]
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