ombrocisNEWCEVsupportstatement31

Supporting Statement for Paperwork Reduction Act Submission

Semi-annual Progress Report for Children and Youth Exposed to Violence Program

A. Justification

1. Statutorily-Mandated Need for Information

The Children and Youth Exposed to Violence Grant Program (CEV) funds projects that seek to mitigate the effects of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking on children and youth exposed to violence and reduce the risk of future victimization or perpetration of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

The program supports projects that provide services for children exposed to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault or stalking including direct counseling, advocacy, or mentoring. Projects must include support for the non-offending parent or caretaker. The program also supports training, coordination and advocacy for programs that serve children and youth on how to safely and confidentially identify children and families experiencing domestic violence and properly refer them to programs that can provide direct services and coordinate with domestic violence and sexual assault victim service providers.

Currently, there are different statutory and regulatory reporting requirements that affect the Arrest Program grantees. First, VAWA 2000 requires all VAWA grantees, including Arrest Program grantees, to report on the effectiveness of their programs to the Attorney General who, in turn, must report to Congress every two years. Section 1003 of VAWA 2000 states that:

(a) REPORT BY GRANT RECIPIENTS.- The Attorney General or Secretary of Health and Human Services, as applicable, shall require grantees under any program authorized or reauthorized by this division or an amendment made by this division to report on the effectiveness of the activities carried out with amounts made available to carry out that program, including number of persons served, if applicable, numbers of persons seeking services who could not be served and such other information as the Attorney General or Secretary may prescribe.

(b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.- The Attorney General or Secretary of Health and Human Services, as applicable, shall report biennially to the Committees on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives and the Senate on the grant programs described in subsection (a), including the information contained in any report under that subsection.

42 U.S.C. ' 3789.

In addition, VAWA requires that AEach grantee receiving funds under this part shall submit a report to the Attorney General evaluating the effectiveness of projects developed with funds provided under this part and containing such additional information as the Attorney General may prescribe.@ 42 U.S.C. 3796 hh-2.

OVW must also comply with the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) (Pub. L. 103-62) which was enacted to increase Congressional and Administrative focus on the results from government programs and activities. Information collected on the semi-annual progress report regarding performance measures, including output measures, that OVW has developed for the different types of CEV grantees will enable OVW to meet its reporting obligations under GPRA.

2. Use of Information

OVW uses data from the information collection¹ in different ways. OVW uses the information collected from CEV grantees to monitor their grant-funded activities and qualitatively assess those activities. The CEV grantees collect information that addresses the following grant-funded activities(different sections on the reporting form): staff, statutory purpose areas, training, community coordinated responses, policies, products, and victim services. Narrative questions at the end of these different sections enable grantees to give more detailed qualitative information about their grant-funded activities. In addition, CEV grantees must answer narrative questions on the status of the grant goals and objectives, the most significant areas of remaining need with regard to improving services to children exposed to sexual assault, domestic violence dating violence and stalking and providing support for their non-abusing parents and caregivers, what CEV Program funding has allowed the grantee to do that it could not do prior to receiving the funding. There are also optional narrative questions addressing additional information on the CEV Porgram grant and/or the effectiveness of the grant and on additional information on the data submitted.

In addition to the proposed information collection, OVW will continue to use a number of other techniques to assess the performance of CEV Program grantees. These may include OVW staff attendance at site visits, grant-funded training and technical assistance events, staff review of products prior to dissemination, and ongoing consultation with OVW staff.

OVW will aggregate data from all CEV grantees’ progress reports to assess the performance of the CEV Program as a whole and to respond to Congressional, Department of Justice, and other inquiries about how CEV Program funds are being used. In addition, information collected from CEV Program grantees will support the following OVW GPRA measures:

Number of victims receiving requested services;

Number of advocates funded:

Number of protection orders issued;

Number of policies developed/revised;

Number of victims requesting services who received them;

Number of grant funded multi-disciplinary training events that have occurred; and

Number of professionals trained to respond to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.

Information collected from CEV Program grantees will enable OVW to respond to statutory requirements to report on the effectiveness of grant-funded activities. The structure of the Congressional report on the OVW grant programs (cited in the previous section) includes sections that describe all OVW grant programs, the Measuring Effectiveness Initiative, the effectiveness of different interventions that are funded by OVW grant programs, and specific topics of interest. The Report also contains specific chapters with more detailed information on each OVW grant program. Much of the data collected helps OVW monitor the grants to ensure that CEV Program funds are being used for the purposes authorized by law and provides important information about the quantity of authorized activities (e.g., number of trainings, number of victims served, etc.) supported by the funds. OVW primarily relies on two sources of information to make sure that our grantees are effective. First, OVW collects data from grantees about what they do with VAWA funding; second, to support our assessment, the body of existing research evaluating responses to violence against women is examined.

The data that OVW collects on the semiannual progress reporting forms is currently not used in connection with an evaluation of the CEV Program. OVW is currently exploring the development of a multi-layered evaluation agenda for its grant programs.

3. Use of Information Technology

The collection of information will involve the use of automated, electronic, mechanical or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology. OVW grantees are required to submit semi-annual or annual progress reports through the Grants Management System (GMS).

3. Duplication of Information Request

There is no other mechanism by which OVW collects information about grant funded activities number of victims served, victims seeking services who could not be served or persons trained.

3. Impact on Small Entities

There is no impact on small entities as the collection of this type of information is routinely kept by most grantees receiving funds under the CEV Program

3. Consequences to Federal Programs or Policy

Through VAWA, Congress has mandated that the CEV Program grantees report to OVW on the effectiveness of programs funded. In addition, through VAWA 2000, Congress mandated that all OVW grantees report to the Attorney General on the effectiveness of their activities funded under VAWA including the number of victims served and the number of victims who could not be served. If OVW was not able to collect the information necessary to complete these reports on behalf of the Attorney General, not only would it be failing to meet a statutorily required reporting mandate, but also the existence of this important and necessary grant program could be jeopardized. The CEV Program is promoting a coordinated, multi-disciplinary approach to improving the criminal justice system’s response to violence against women. It supports partnerships among law enforcement, prosecution, courts, and victim advocacy organizations to enhance victim safety and hold offenders accountable for their crimes of violence against women.

3. Special Circumstances

There are no special circumstances as identified in the specific instructions for a supporting statement for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions.

3. Federal Register Publication

OVW has consulted with persons outside the agency who have advised that the data proposed to be collected is available, the annual collection of such data is not burdensome, the form is clear, and that the information is routinely kept by most grantees receiving funds under the CEV Program. OVW has solicited public comment on this form in accordance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act. A 60 day notice was published in the Federal Register on May 29, 2011 (Federal Register, Volume 76, page 30389) and a 30-day was notice was published in the Federal Register on August 1, 2011 (Federal Register, Volume 76, page 45861). OVW did not receive any comments in connection with these notices.

3. Payment or Gift to Respondents

There will no payment or gift to respondents.

3. Confidentiality

Although this information is needed for a public report to Congress, it will not involve any personal information about victims that could identify them as specific individuals. However, anecdotal, non-identifying information about the effectiveness of individual programs may be included in the report. There is no assurance to confidentiality.

3. Specific Questions

The semi-annual progress report will not contain any questions of a personal, sensitive nature such as sexual behavior and attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private.

3. Hour Burden of the Collection of Information

This semi-annual progress report is not overly burdensome. The data collection tool will be completed by approximately 25 CEV Program grantees twice a year as there are 2 reporting periods- January 1 through June 30 and July 1 through December 31. There will be 50 annual responses and it is estimated that it will take grantees no more than 1 hour to complete the semi-annual progress report form. Thus, the annual reporting and recordkeeping hour burden is 50 hours. CEV Program grantees are informed about the reporting requirements during the grant solicitation process and during the grant award process. Because the semi-annual progress report covers a six month period, grantees are not in a position to complete the form until the end of each reporting period.

OVW is seeking basic information that is routinely kept by the CEV Program grantees in the normal course of their operations. Thus, the requirement that grantees complete this semi-annual progress report within a period of less than 30 days after receipt of it is not overly burdensome. OVW estimates that it will take approximately 1 hour for a grantee to complete the form. OVW developed this estimate based on the fact that information of this nature is already kept by grantees receiving funds under the CEV Program and that the grantees have been apprized of these reporting requirements during the solicitation process and reminded throughout the grant award process. The semi-annual progress report is divided into sections that pertain to the different types of activities that grantees may engage in, i.e. training, product development, victim services. Grantees will only have to complete the sections of the form that relate to their specific activities.

13. Cost Burden of the Collection of Information

OVW does not believe that there is any annual cost burden on respondents or recordkeepers resulting from the collection of this information. OVW does not anticipate that any respondents will incur any costs from this collection, including costs from developing, operating, and maintaining data collection and retention systems, that they would not otherwise incur in the absence of this collection.

14. Annualized Costs to the Federal Government

The annualized costs to the Federal Government resulting from the OVW staff review of the progress reports submitted by grantees are estimated to be $1,400.

14. Program Changes or Adjustments

There are no program changes or adjustments for the estimates identified in Section 13 and in Section 14. This is a information collection that is necessary for OVW and its Arrest Program grantees to comply with the statutory reporting requirements of 42 U.S.C. 3789 and the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (Pub. L. 103-62).

14. Published Results of Information Collections

There will be no complex analytical techniques used in connection with the publication of

information collected under the request. Information will be gathered twice a year at the end of the reporting periods, January 1 through June 30 and July 1 through December 31. OVW is statutorily required to submit a report on the effectiveness of grant-funded activities on an annual basis.

14. Display of the Expiration Date of OMB Approval

OVW will display the Expiration Date of OMB Approval in the upper right hand corner of the Semi-annual Progress Report.

18. Exception to the Certification Statement

OVW is not seeking any exception to the certification statement identified in Item 19, Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions, of OMB Form 83-I.

1 Under a cooperative agreement between OVW and the University of Southern Maine’s Muskie School of Public Service, data collected from OVW grantees on all of OVW’s progress report forms is transmitted to the Muskie School for analysis. For the analysis of the data, standard descriptive statistics (frequency, sum, percentage, mean, etc.) are used to describe the characteristics of the grantees and report basic findings. All analyses are conducted in SPSS 13.0.

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