Letter to Increase Response Rate and Participation

United States

Department of

Agriculture

Food and

Nutrition

Service

3101 Park

Center Drive

Alexandria, VA

22302-1500

^{According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not 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 0584-0602 The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 0.03 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information.}

OMB Control No.: 0584-0602

Expiration Date: 05/31/2018

Appendix A: Reminder and Request Notice

January XX, 2016

Dear Provider:

I am writing today to encourage your participation in an important study that is being funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). You are receiving this letter because you were contacted by Mathematica Policy Research and invited to complete a brief online survey.

FNS is committed to helping SNAP participants gain skills, training, and experience that lead to jobs. FNS is funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Employment and Training Study to understand how SNAP E&T programs serve clients, what participants need to develop their skills, and how E&T programs meet participants’ needs. In addition to the provider surveys, Mathematica is collecting data through surveys and focus groups from E&T participants and analyzing administrative data from 25 randomly selected States.

As a provider of SNAP E&T services, you have a unique perspective about how the SNAP E&T program is working and what could be improved. Your response is critical to our understanding of how to connect SNAP participants to gainful employment and self-sufficiency. Your responses will be kept private and will be compiled into the larger report Mathematica is preparing for FNS.

We appreciate your commitment to serving SNAP E&T clients and helping them gain and retain employment and hope you will inform our understanding of how the program works and how it can be made even better. Please respond to the brief online survey before the December 18th deadline.

If you have any questions about the survey or need any help, please contact Bryce Onaran, the Survey Director, at [email protected] or 202-484-4524.

Sincerely,

Moira Johnston

Director

Office of Employment and Training

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

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