State & Local Agencies - WIC NSA Study

Appendix C8

Recruitment Letter to State SNAP-TANF Program

Appendix C8

Recruitment Letter to State SNAP/TANF Program

[DATE] Spring 2014

Dear State [SNAP/TANF] Director,

Several months ago you were informed about the WIC Nutrition Services and Administration (NSA) Cost Study being conducted by Altarum Institute (Altarum). Sponsored by the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), this study will (1) collect cost information from state and local WIC agencies to examine the impact of administrative changes on WIC NSA costs since the last WIC Administrative Costs Report in 2000; and (2) establish a comparison between WIC administrative costs and administrative costs in other similar federal programs, such as SNAP and TANF.

Altarum and RTI International (RTI) have received final approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to proceed with the study. We are requesting your participation in the study and thank you in advance for your cooperation and assistance in collecting the necessary data.

Outlined below are the activities for which we request your participation:

1. Assistance with arranging the case study interviews with the appropriate staff members at your state agency. We may also ask for assistance with arranging interviews with staff from one or two county/local [SNAP/TANF] offices.

• At the state level, we anticipate being onsite for one day to conduct interviews with the state [SNAP/TANF] director, state financial manager (or equivalent position), and lead staff of state-level programs, including the SNAP-Ed Director.

• If a county or local level interview is necessary, we may need your help identifying one or two county/local programs that best represent and can explain the budgeting procedures and challenges county/local programs face with regard to utilizing [SNAP/TANF] funds. Altarum will conduct interviews with officials at these agencies on the day before and/or day after the state agency interviews, depending on scheduling and availability.

2. Provide a point of contact to help coordinate completion of the above requested items.

• Please provide us with the name, title, email address, and phone number of the person at your state agency with whom we can coordinate this effort. Working with one staff member to coordinate communications will help to streamline the process for addressing questions and providing information about the study. Please send this staff member’s contact information to [email protected].

This study is very important to USDA FNS and the WIC Program as it will help to explain the full range of valuable services that are performed with NSA funds. We thank you for your participation and look forward to working with you!

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Diane Phillips at [email protected] or (202) 603-7142.

Regards,

Loren Bell, Project Director

Institute Fellow

Co-Director, Center for Food Assistance and Nutrition

Altarum Institute