SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR REQUEST FOR OMB APPROVAL
Under the Paperwork Reduction Act and 5 CFR 1320
Corporation for National and Community Service's
Enrollment Form and Exit Form
JUSTIFICATION
The Enrollment Form, and its electronic versions, is the official form used to document that a member is enrolled in an approved national service position and has begun to earn an education award from the Corporation's National Service Trust. The form also provides the Corporation with demographic information for evaluative purposes, allows it to project future liabilities for the Trust, and allows the enrollee to self-certify personal information. The Exit Form, and its electronic versions, is used to record that the member has completed an approved term of national service and whether he is eligible for an education award from the National Service Trust Fund. The form also provides members an opportunity to indicate whether they wish to be contacted by organizations related to their AmeriCorps service.
These purposes are mandated by the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993, as amended (P.L. 103-82), which requires that individuals who successfully complete a term of service in an approved national service position be granted an education award. Requirements relating to the education awards are detailed in 42 USC §12501 and 42 USC §12594 through §12604. Requirements relating to the evaluation of members' experiences and development are provided in 42 USC §12639.
Need for Data Collection
The Enrollment Form is the means by which various programs supervised by AmeriCorps*State & National, AmeriCorps*NCCC, AmeriCorps*VISTA, AmeriCorps*Learn & Serve, AmeriCorps*Serve America Fellows, and Silver Scholar Programs Offices certify that a member is eligible to serve in various programs and has begun his or her term of service. Secondly, it provides the Corporation, grantees, and program managers with valuable demographic information with which the Corporation can assess and report on member placement in accordance with 42 USC §12639. The Exit Form documents program certification of whether the member has completed all the terms of his service agreement and is eligible for an education award, as well as a record of the member’s contact information.
Use of Information to be Collected
The office of the Chief Financial Officer of the Corporation will use data collected from this form to maintain an up-to-date database of service members enrolled in the National Service Trust. The information will allow the Corporation to report on the numbers and demographics of AmeriCorps and other members, their placements, and award criteria. Since, by law, members have, generally, seven years to use their education awards, the data will allow the Corporation to anticipate liabilities that will be incurred by members in the future. The Corporation will provide alumni and service organizations with member information for those members who elect to receive it.
Use of Improved Technology to Reduce Burden
Beginning in 1999, the Corporation began collecting enrollment and exit information for AmeriCorps members electronically. Currently, all CNCS programs nationwide are directly entering information into the Trust's database via various “Portals”. Programs require members to complete the member portion of the Enrollment and Exit Forms.
4. Efforts to Identify Duplication
This information is not being requested by any other means.
5. Burden on Small Entities
The information request will not impose a burden on Small Entities.
6. Consequences of Less Frequent or No Data Collection
AmeriCorps members cannot serve more than the value of two full-time terms of national service for which an education award is a possibility. Since each of their terms has different attributes--different dates or programs or hours required--enrollment information is necessary for each term. Education awards cannot be processed until the member is certified by a program official as having met all program requirements. If this data were not collected, the Corporation would not be able to report to Congress and the President on the types, number, and locations of service members. Nor would the Corporation be able to project liabilities of the National Service Trust.
7. Special Circumstances
No special circumstances exist with respect to this form.
8. Federal Register Publication and Comments Received
On April 14, 2010, a Notice was placed in the Federal Register for a 60 day pre-clearance public comment period. No public comments were received from this Notice.
9. Provisions of Payments or Gifts
No payments or gifts are provided.
10. Assurance of Confidentiality
Confidentiality of information supplied by respondents is ensured by the Privacy Act. A Privacy Act notice appears on the form.
11. Sensitive Questions
No sensitive questions are included on the form.
12. Estimates of Hour Burden of the Collection of Information
49,333 hours total for both forms; 296,000 respondents will take 10 minutes to complete the forms.
13. Estimate of Total Annual Cost
None.
14. Annualized Cost to Federal Government.
There will be no additional costs to the federal government.
15. Reasons for Program Changes or Adjustments
The burden has increased due to an increase of 4,000 respondents to new initiatives included in the Serve America Act (Two forms, two respondents each).
16. Outline of Plans for Tabulation and Publication
There will be no publication of the data from the forms, although the data may be summarized in other reports.
17. Display of Expiration Date
The Corporation requests a waiver of the requirement to display the expiration date on each screen of the online versions of these forms in the My AmeriCorps Portals. System constraints make it difficult to revise the hard-coded dates in a timely manner, which may give rise to considerable confusion among members and grantees due to the display of a date indicating the ICR has expired. OMB approved a waiver request for the Voucher & Payment Request Form dates for similar reasons.
18. Exception to Certification Statement
No exceptions are requested.
B. COLLECTION OF INFORMATION EMPLOYING STATISTICAL METHODS
Statistical methods will not be used.
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | SUPPORTING STATEMENT FOR REQUEST FOR OMB APPROVAL |
| Author | Levon Buller |
| Last Modified By | Amy B. |
| File Modified | 2010-09-21 |
| File Created | 2010-09-21 |