Justification for Award Nomination

Date: February 5, 2021

To: OMB Desk Officer, Food and Nutrition Service

Through: Rachelle Greene, Food and Nutrition Service, Information Clearance

Officer

From: Judy Wilson, Senior Nutrition Advisor, Office of Research and Analysis, Food and Nutrition Service

Re: Under Approved Generic OMB Clearance No. 0584-0524

Request Approval for formative research - Award Nomination Forms and Success Story Report Forms

______________________________________________________________________The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) of the USDA Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services is requesting approval for formative research under Approved Generic OMB Clearance No. 0584-0524.

The following information is provided for your review:

1. Title of Project: Award Nomination, Success Story Report and Feedback Forms

2. Control Number: 0584-0524, expiration date March 31, 2010

3. Public affected by this Project:

1. FNS Program stakeholders who consist of State, local and tribal agencies, such as health and human services agencies, county assistance offices; nutrition education providers; administrators that work with FNS nutrition assistance programs; and authorized retailers (grocery stores, farmers’ markets, food banks, purchasing clubs) that accept FNS nutrition assistance benefits as payment for food.

2. FNS Program audiences which consist of individuals and households who may be program participants or potentially eligible persons.

3. Businesses for profit and businesses for non-profit which consist primarily of faith-based and community organizations collaborating with FNS or operating on their own to outreach to underserved groups in an effort to end hunger and improve the health and nutrition of low income people by increasing participation in FNS nutrition assistance programs.

4. Number of respondents:

Instrument	Characteristics of Respondents	Estimated Number of Respondents x Est. Annual Response = Total Annual Response	Time Needed in Hours
Hunger Champions Award Nomination Form FNS-790	A through C	75 x 1 = 75	75 x .75 = 56.25
Golden Grocer Award Nomination Form FNS-792	A through C	50 x 1 = 50	50 x .75 = 37.50
Promising Practices Submission Form FNS-791	A through C	50 x 1 = 50	50 x .75 = 37.50
FNS Core Nutrition Message Feedback Form FNS-793	A	600 x 1 = 600	600 x .25 = 150.00
Re-contact for clarification	A through C	10% = 77.5	77.5 x .25 = 19.375
	All groups listed above in #3	Total = 775	300.625

5. Time needed per Response: The total response burden for forms FNS-790, FNS-791, and FNS-792 in the above chart is determined to be 45 minutes or .75 hours annually, and for form FNS-793 is 15 minutes or .25 hours. On occasion, there will be a need to re-contact respondents to obtain clarification of their response. The time needed to obtain clarification is estimated to be 15 minutes or .25 hours for about 10 percent of the respondents.

6.Total Burden Hours on Public: .75 hours x 175 respondents = 131.25 hours annually; .25 hours x 600 = 150 hours annually; re-contacting about 10 percent or 77.5 respondents x .25 = 19.375 hours for a total burden of 131.25 + 150 + 19.375 = 300.625 or 301 burden hours.

7. Project Purpose, Methodology and Design:

Background

Authorized by 7 CFR Parts 210 through 271, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Services (USDA, FNS) has a prescribed mission to increase food security and reduce hunger in partnership with cooperating organizations by providing children and low-income people access to food, a healthful diet, and nutrition education in a manner that supports American agriculture and inspires public confidence. FNS administers 15 nutrition assistance programs. The largest of these, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly called the Food Stamp Program, is the cornerstone of federal nutrition assistance to low income households.

FNS continues to implement service and program enhancements to ensure that all eligible people know about and have access to healthy and nutritious foods and nutrition education to improve their skills in planning and preparing healthy meals using SNAP and other program benefits. However, there are both real and perceived barriers to SNAP participation among some segments of the target population. For example, some potentially eligible households need assistance in making a decision to enroll or apply for SNAP, such as persons that are disabled or otherwise functionally challenged, non- English speaking or limited English speaking persons, and people in areas with limited public transportation, etc. FNS recognizes that achieving a high program participation rate among these groups requires the support and commitment of grass roots community service organizations across the nation. FNS supports its community partners by providing them with online training and tool kits, outreach materials in print, public service announcements for radio and television, an online eligibility pre-screening tool, grants for conducting research on effective means of removing barriers to participation, and grants for implementing outreach to hard-to-reach populations.

As part of its comprehensive outreach initiative, FNS established the Outreach Coalition, a national group of organizations and individuals that provides a forum for the sharing of outreach ideas, strategies, and resources in order to improve the accessibility of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and increase participation by eligible persons. The Coalition seeks to broaden community awareness, improve support for the SNAP, and is committed to improving the effectiveness of all FNS nutrition assistance programs through viable partnerships. The Administration’s goal of ending hunger by 2015 has intensified the agency’s efforts to provide key stakeholders with more comprehensive and timely information on successful and effective outreach and education models that can be easily replicated. In addition, the agency is committed to providing science-based nutrition education and information to assist stakeholders in helping low-income households to make healthier food and lifestyle choices. This information collection request supports four initiatives: three were developed by the FNS Outreach Coalition and one by the FNS Office of Nutrition Research and Analysis. Each is described below.

To ensure timely and efficient data collection and to minimize the burden for partners, data collection activities in this request will be accomplished through online submission; however, other options are provided for those that are not connected to the internet. The information submitted will augment FNS’ efforts to identify excellent outreach practices and help the agency to better target outreach efforts, improve training activities, develop program enhancements, and share practices that get results in a variety of geographic and demographic environs.

The FNS outreach and nutrition education initiatives involved in this request are described below.

• Hunger Champion Award Initiative Form FNS-790 The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Hunger Champion Award Program of the FNS Outreach Coalition was established to honor local county assistance offices that provide exemplary service in assisting eligible clients to obtain SNAP benefits. Any individual, agency or organization who has worked, observed or has personal experience with a local county office may nominate that office to be honored as a Hunger Champion. Nominations are rated by a panel of Outreach Coalition members from non-profit end-hunger organizations, eligibility workers, and state and Federal government. A summary of the successes of the Hunger Champions awardees will be included in the FNS collection of Promising Practices in Outreach resources housed on the public web.

• Golden Grocer Award Initiative Form FNS-792 The FNS Outreach Coalition established the Golden Grocer Hunger Champion Award Program to recognize the instrumental role retailers play in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and to share innovative practices to facilitate adoption by other retailers. Highlighting successful activities that improve service to SNAP recipients and low-income customers provide retailers with exemplary models to replicate. FNS will seek nominations for those that provide a quality shopping experience for SNAP recipients and low income customers that are highlighted by excellence in customer service, outreach, and/or nutrition education; however, submission is voluntary. A summary of the successes of the Golden Grocer awardees will be included in the FNS collection of Promising Practices in Outreach resources housed on the public web.

• Promising Practices in Outreach Initiative Form FNS-791 FNS is committed to promoting use of best practices and to this end will collect and disseminate promising outreach practices and activities from State and local partners as well as our community groups and advocates. The Promising Practices in Outreach web page will provide a compendium of research-based strategies and activities that have gotten results. This information will provide ideas and inspiration for others to implement or improve ongoing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program outreach efforts. The collection of promising practices helps to disseminate low cost or no cost outreach approaches that are realistic and effective in local communities. The information collected is also used by FNS staff to assess trends, develop guidance for training, and in planning to improve program participation among eligible households.

• Core Nutrition Messages Form FNS-793 In 2008, FNS released a set of 16 audience-tested nutrition messages and related content in a guidebook entitled “Maximizing the Message: Helping mothers and children make healthier food choices.” This guidebook and related materials help to support the Agency’s goal of helping low-income populations to improve their diets. In addition to the messages, the guide provides supporting content and tips, explains the research behind the messages, and provides strategies for incorporating the messages into theory-based interventions implemented as part of the nutrition assistance programs. The messages focus on increasing consumption of fruits, vegetables and fat free and low fat milk products and fostering child feeding practices that support the development of healthy eating habits. The supporting content includes ‘mom-to-mom’ conversations, tips, recipes, etc. To support dissemination of these materials, FNS has established a core message web page that includes these messages, the implementation guide, supporting content, additional resources such as slides, flyers, orientation materials and related training activities. The agency plans to include additional pages to highlight and share State practices and innovative methods for putting the messages into practice and to address other needs identified by user. For more information, go to: http://www.fns.usda.gov/fns/corenutritionmessages/default.htm. The Agency will use data collection requested in Form FNS-793 to:

1.  Ascertain how State and local nutrition educators use the messages and to find ways to enhance these resources and expand their use.

2. Identify which messages are being used any trends with respect to program use-this will help to inform future message development activities.

3. Find out what, if any, real or perceived barriers there are to implementation of the messages and use the information to address them via training and/or other communication mechanisms.

4. Identify promising practices for disseminating the messages and share these practices with others for potential replication.  We will also use this information in planning FNS materials.

5. Determine if there are unmet needs that the Agency can address to encourage and facilitate more extensive use of these resources.

6. Get feedback on the core messages web-site and ways to enhance it.

7. Identify and share resources created at the state and/or local levels.

The Agency will compile this data at regular intervals-at least every six month.  We will use it in planning and fine-tune the current messages and new messages that the Agency will be developing in 2010.  The information will also help us in planning and enhancing the guidance materials and trainings.

Purpose

The purpose of this data collection is to obtain information from local government, community outreach organizations, and the public at large about their successful strategies and to award or provide visibility to these vital partners for their contributions in a manner that inspires and informs other organizations to achieve similar successes. The information will be submitted voluntarily. The information obtained from respondents will be analyzed to identify common themes and trends, assess program reach, and to identify ways to improve FNS materials to better meet the needs of target populations. The information will be shared with stakeholders on the public web site and in other forums to encourage replication of successful initiatives.

Methodology and Design

FNS has developed product specific forms that may be completed at the discretion of the user. All forms will be posted on FNS public web sites at http://www.fns.usda.gov/fsp/outreach/default.htm or http://www.fns.usda.gov/fns/outreach.htm or http://www.fns.usda.gov/fns/corenutritionmessages/default.htm. Those interested in submitting nominations for awards, providing feedback on core messages or in reporting promising practices in outreach or nutrition education will voluntarily complete the forms on line or send them to a designated email address or fax number. FNS will review and compile the submitted information and assess responses at least once per year. Information will also be summarized and shared with relevant FNS staff to guide decision making and program planning. Information reported about success stories and promising practices in outreach and nutrition education will also be shared with the public via the FNS public web. Information collection instruments include:

• Hunger Champion Award Nomination Form FNS-790

• Golden Grocer Award Nomination Form FNS-792

• Promising Practices in Outreach Report Form FNS-791

• Core Messages Feedback Form FNS-793

Respondents

The respondents will include all who are willing to complete the forms and submit them online or send the form to a designated FNS email address, fax number or mailing address. The respondents will include FNS program stakeholders such as providers, educators, and retailers, as well as program participants; however, since the information is available to anyone who visits the websites or reviews the materials and products, others may also choose to submit responses.

Data Collection

Forms will be accessible to the public on the FNS web sites at http://www.fns.usda.gov/fsp/outreach/default.htm or http://www.fns.usda.gov/fns/outreach.htm or http://www.fns.usda.gov/fns/corenutritionmessages/default.htm. Respondents will voluntarily complete the forms and submit them to FNS at their discretion. To minimize burden for stakeholders, FNS plans to post the forms on the Web and allow users to respond on line or email their responses. This move toward the electronic sharing of ideas, success stories, and strategies is consistent with methods employed by other Federal agencies. No compensation will be provided to users for voluntarily sharing their nominations and entries.

Specific forms will be available for each initiative. These forms will continue to be available for the duration of the award programs, outreach activities and core messages.

Users can choose to print the form and submit it by fax or postal service. To ensure privacy, the respondent’s personal information such as name, address, telephone or email address will be used for administrative purposes only, such as clarifying responses, confirming requests for materials or maintaining partnership information.

Burden Estimate

FNS estimates that the response burden for forms FNS-790, FNS-791, and FNS-792 is an average of forty-five minutes per respondent. Thus, the total response burden will be 45 minutes (.75 hours) x 175 respondents which equals 131.25 hours. The estimate of the response burden for form FNS-793 is an average of 15 minutes per respondent. Thus, the total response burden will be .25 hours x 600 respondents which equals 150 hours. The information collection will involve no appreciable startup or operational costs, however, on occasion; there will be a need to re-contact respondents to obtain clarification of their response. The time needed to obtain clarification is estimated to be 15 minutes or .25 hours x 10 percent of the respondents (77.5) which equals 19.375 hours of burden. The total burden is 131.25 + 150 + 19.375 hours = 300.625 hours. The information collection will involve no appreciable startup or operational costs. Each of the web-based forms will display the OMB Burden Statement.

Outcome

The information obtained from the forms will be used to inform decision makers at all levels of government, as well as private non-profit organizations to assist them in identifying ways to improve the functionality of outreach efforts, outreach materials, and nutrition education resources which FNS provides at no cost to the public. FNS staff in the Office of Strategic Initiatives, Partnerships and Outreach will be responsible for Forms FNS-790, FNS-791, and FNS-792. The Office of Research and Analysis will be responsible for Form FNS-793.

8. Federal Costs: $22,262.00

9. Requested Approval Date: ASAP

Contact Information

8. Questions regarding this data collection request can be directed to Judy Wilson, Office of Research and Analysis, 703-305-2584.

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