Appendix H-Advance Letter

Appendix H

Advance Letter

[FNS Letterhead]

[NAME]

[ADDRESS]

[CITY, STATE ZIP]

Dear [Salutation NAME]:

[INSERT PARTICIPATING STATE] is taking part in a study for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on improving people’s access to federal food-assistance programs. You have been chosen to share your thoughts on how well these programs are working in [INSERT PARTICIPATING STATE]. Your feedback is vital and will help the USDA create better policies and programs.

As part of this project, the USDA is working with Mathematica Policy Research to conduct a short survey by phone. A staff member from Mathematica will call you in the next few days. This phone call will take about 20 minutes. As a token of our appreciation, you will receive a $25 gift card once the phone call is complete. Please note that this gift will not affect any government assistance you may receive.

Although we hope you will choose to take part in this survey, you do not have to take part. There are no penalties if you refuse, and it will have no effect on any government assistance you receive. All survey data that we collect will be kept private, as required by law.

If you would like to complete the survey now, or if you want to set up a time for the phone call, please call 1-8xx-xxx-xxxx. You will be asked to provide a survey ID number, which is [MPRID]. Also, if you would like us not to contact you, please call the same number above and let us know.

If you have any questions about this survey, please contact Daniel Friend, deputy survey director at Mathematica, at (202) 250-3540 or at [email protected]. Thank you for helping us make this study a success!

Sincerely,

Bob Dalrymple

Senior Analyst, Family Programs Staff

Office of Research and Analysis

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, no persons are required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 0584-XXXX. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 3 minutes per response, including the time to review instructions, search existing data resources, gather the data needed, and complete and review the information collection.

USDA Food and Nutrition Service