State Government Responsive

Appendix C.4 Initial Interview Notification and Scheduler Letter

From: 2M Study Team

To: [SELECTED SNAP STATE DIRECTORS]

Subject: How States Safeguard SNAP Participants’ Personally Identifiable Information (PII)

XX/XX/20XX

Dear [FIRST NAME] [LAST NAME]:

Thank you for completing the web survey for the first phase of How States Safeguard SNAP Participants’ Personally Identifiable Information (PII) study. As you may recall, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) contracted with 2M Research (2M) to conduct this study.

I am writing to inform you that [SELECTED STATE] has been selected to participate in a follow-up interview. Your State agency (SA) has been identified as a leader in protecting SNAP PII based on your responses on the web survey and information gathered during interviews with systems and security experts. Staff from 2M will contact you by phone to schedule the interview at a time that is convenient for you and your staff, as well as for other staff who can handle the more technical issues, such as program/data analysts and State information technology staff. During this interview, 2M will ask questions about the following:

• Successes and challenges in implementing and maintaining security

• Innovative and cost-effective methods

• Staff experiences

• Best practices and lessons learned

We recommend that the staff who participated in the web survey should also be included in the interview, either by telephone conference or by joining you in person.

This interview will be one of only five interviews conducted with SNAP SAs from around the country. This is your opportunity to showcase your State’s innovative methods for protecting PII. The information collected from these interviews can support other States in maintaining appropriate data security. These interviews will further the objectives of the study: to describe how SAs protect SNAP PII and to provide best practices that other SAs can use. The answers you provide will be confidential.

Your participation in this study is critical to the privacy and safety of SNAP participants and applicants, and we thank you in advance for your important contribution to this research.

To expedite the scheduling process, please fill in the table below by placing an X in the cells for the times that you and your staff are available for the interview and email the table back to me. A member of the study team will follow up with you shortly to confirm your interview time or discuss other times convenient to you.

Time (ET)	Date	Date	Date
##:00 am/pm
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##:00 am/pm
##:00 am/pm
##:00 am/pm

If you have any questions regarding the interview process, please call any time (toll free) 1-877-230-3035, between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday ET, or email us at [email protected].

Sincerely,

[2M INTERVIEW RECRUITER NAME and TITLE]

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-XXXX. The time required to complete this information collection is estimated to average 4 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 Number: 0584-#### 1231981BF0081 | Appendix G-2

Expiration Date: ##/##/####