Introductory Letter

Appendix 2: Introductory Letter from HUD

[NAME]

[TITLE]

[ORGANIZATION]

[ADDRESS]

[ADDRESS]

Dear [NAME]:

I am writing to request that your institution participate in a study of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of University Partnerships’ (OUP) University Programs, including the [INSERT PROGRAM NAME] program. HUD selected Abt Associates (and its partners Econometrica Inc. and ACKCO) to assess the type of projects undertaken with OUP grant funds, to observe the outcomes of those projects, and to examine how overall program design affects outcomes.

Your institution (one of 66 other OUP grantees) has been selected from OUP grant records at random from among all HUD-funded OUP grantees nationwide that received at least one OUP grant between 2005 and 2008.

Your involvement in the study would entail participating in a short web survey and a telephone interview. The web survey will collect basic background information that will inform the more detailed questions asked during the telephone call. Both of these have been reviewed by OMB and are considered private and voluntary. The web survey will take about 20 minutes to complete and will gather basic information about the OUP grant(s) your institution received during the study period (2005-2008). The telephone interview is expected to last about 45 minutes and will go into greater detail about what your institution was able to accomplish with the OUP funding, how this has benefited your campus and community, and the challenges you faced during implementation.

The findings from the study will be publicly reported only at the aggregate level; individual grantees will not be identified in the study reports.

[NAME], one of the Abt Associates team members, will contact you by email in the next few days to provide additional information about the study, to answer any questions you may have, and to confirm your willingness to participate. If you agree to participate, they will provide instructions for completing the web survey and scheduling the telephone interview. In the meantime, please review your schedule for times in the next few weeks when you are available to participate in the web survey and telephone interview. When you speak with the Abt representative, please share with them the times you will be available to complete each.

If you are not the most appropriate or knowledgeable person to respond to this request, please email or call the Abt Associates Project Director, Amy Minzner ([email protected] or 617-349-2314), and provide the contact information for the more appropriate individual. The person who completes the web survey should have general familiarity with the OUP grants, including the activities implemented, implementation partners, and additional sources of funding. The person completing the telephone interview should be able to describe the outcomes achieved as a result of the grant, as well as any problems or challenges your institution faced during implementation. It is possible that the Abt Associates team will need to speak with more than one person from your institution in order to gather the desired information. When you speak with them, please indicate if you think this will be the case.

If you have questions about the study, you can contact Ms. Minzner or Ndeye Jackson of the Office of Policy Development and Research at 202-402-5737 or [email protected]. Ms. Jackson is managing this research effort for HUD.

Thank you very much for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

Sherone Ivy

Deputy Assistant Secretary

Office of University Partnerships

Abt Associates Inc. Appendix 2: Introductory Letter from HUD 2