30-Day Federal Register Notice

Federal Register: August 23, 2011 (Volume 76, Number 163)]

[Notices]              

[Page 52696-52697]

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

[DOCID:fr23au11-108]                        

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OFFICE OF NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL POLICY

Paperwork Reduction Act; Proposed Collection; Comment Request

AGENCY: Office of National Drug Control Policy.

ACTION: 30-Day notice and request for comments. New Information

Collection Request: Drug Free Communities Support Program National

Evaluation.

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SUMMARY: The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) intends to

submit the following information collection request to the Office of

Management and Budget for review and approval under the Paperwork

Reduction Act.

DATES: ONDCP encourages and will accept public comments until September

22, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Address all comments in writing within 30 days to Mr.

Patrick Fuchs. Facsimile and e-mail are the most reliable means of

communication. Mr. Fuchs facsimile number is (202) 395-5167, and his e-

mail address is [email protected]. Mailing address is 725 17th Street,

NW., Washington DC 20503. For further information contact Mr. Fuchs at

(202) 395-3897.

    Abstract: ONDCP directs the Drug Free Communities (DFC) Program in

partnership with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services

Administration's Center for Substance

[[Page 52697]]

Abuse Prevention. The DFC Program has two primary goals: To reduce

youth substance abuse, and to support community anti-drug coalitions by

establishing, strengthening, and fostering collaboration among public

and private agencies.

    Under reauthorization legislation (21 U.S.C. 1702), Congress

mandated an evaluation of the DFC Program to determine its

effectiveness in meeting objectives. In 2009, a contract was awarded to

evaluate the DFC Program. This evaluation builds upon the results of an

earlier evaluation and makes use of an existing web-based performance

system, called the Coalition Online Management and Evaluation Tool

(COMET) and the Coalition Classification Tool (CCT), to gather

information from DFC grantees. COMET and CCT are being revised to

reduce the burden of information collection on grantees, increase the

quality of the data, and facilitate the monitoring and tracking of

grantee progress. Revisions to the core outcome measures of DFC are

also proposed to bring this data collection in line with the National

Outcome Measures (NOMS). Proposed changes include the addition of a

peer disapproval measure, the removal of the age of first use measure,

and a revision to the perception of risk measure for alcohol to focus

on binge drinking. Moreover, prescription drug use is proposed to be

tracked as a core substance of abuse in this study.

    In addition to the information collected from the COMET and CCT

system, the new evaluation will include a case study component to

document coalition practices. This element of the evaluation will

involve interviews with coalition leaders and surveys of coalition

partners from a number of agencies. Each year, nine DFC grantees will

be evaluated and the information from the case studies will be shared

other grantees.

    Type of Information Collection: Web-based data collection, surveys

and interviews of DFC and Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking

(STOP) Act grantees.

    Title: Drug Free Communities Support Program National Evaluation.

    Frequency: Semi-annually by DFC and Stop Act Program Directors via

COMET, and annually for DFC Program Directors and selected coalition

members via the CCT. Interviews and electronic surveys of Program

Directors and electronic surveys of selected coalition members will be

accomplished one time.

    Affected Public: DFC and STOP Act grantees.

    Estimated Burden: ONDCP expects that the time required to complete

each semi-annual report via COMET will be approximately five hours, and

each CCT report will take approximately one hour to complete. Face to

face interviews will take 1.5-2 hours and surveys will take

approximately .25 hours each to complete. The estimated total amount of

time required by all respondents over one year, including Program

Directors and grantees to complete COMET, CCT, surveys, and interviews,

is 9,680 hours.

    Goals: ONDCP intends to use the data of the DFC National Evaluation

to assess the DFC Program's effectiveness in preventing and reducing

youth substance use. Two primary objectives of the evaluation are to:

(1) Support an effective grant monitoring mechanism that provides the

Federal government with the expertise, system, functions, and products

to collect, analyze, and report data collectively, and (2) regularly

monitor and measure data in order to demonstrate the progress of the

DFC program and its grantees.

    Comment Request: ONDCP especially invites comments on: whether the

proposed data are proper for the functions of the agency; whether the

information will have practical utility; the accuracy of ONDCP's

estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information,

including the validity of the methodology and assumptions; ways to

enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be

collected; and, ways to ease the burden on proposed respondents,

including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of

information technology. Comments will be accepted for thirty days.

    Dated: August 18, 2011.

Daniel R. Petersen,

Deputy General Counsel.

[FR Doc. 2011-21548 Filed 8-22-11; 8:45 am]

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