[Federal Register: February 15, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 30)]
[Notices]
[Page 7745-7746]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr15fe05-74]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Administration for Children and Families
Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request
Title: DHHS/ACF/ASPE/DOL Enhanced Services for the Hard-to-Employ
Demonstration and Evaluation Project Follow-up Surveys.
OMB No.: 0970-0251.
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 Assistant 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 up to 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 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, which 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); and
5. A 12-month follow-up survey in Kansas and Missouri (Two
Generation Test).
[[Page 7746]]
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 are detailed in the supporting statement.
Annual Burden Estimates
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Number of
Instrument Number of responses per Average burden hours Total burden
respondents respondent per response hours
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Rhode Island, 6-month................. 734 1 38 minutes or .63 hrs... 464.87
Rhode Island, 15-month................ 734 1 45 minutes or .75 hrs... 550.50
New York City, 12-month............... 1,000 1 32 minutes or .53 hrs... 533.33
Philadelphia, 12-month................ 750 1 25 minutes or .42 hrs... 312.50
Kansas/Missouri, 12-month............. 680 1 45 minutes or .75 hrs... 510.00
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Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours. 2,371.20
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: grjohnson@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: Katherine_T._Astrich@omb.eop.gov.
Dated: February 8, 2005
Robert Sargis,
Reports Clearance Officer.
[FR Doc. 05-2825 Filed 2-14-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4184-01-M