Attachment C.1 Study Team Introductory Email to Grantees

Attachment C.1: Study Team Introductory Email to Grantees

OMB Control Number: 0584-0524

Expiration Date: 12/31/2022

Dear [GRANTEE NAME]:

It was so nice to meet you in-person at the November grantee meeting for the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer (Summer EBT) 2019-2022 Project. As you know from the meeting, Abt Associates is leading the evaluation of the project with funding from USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS). The evaluation will help FNS better understand how Summer EBT helps families feed children during the summer months and learn more about the experiences of participating families, retailers and SFAs with Summer EBT.

As we discussed, we will conduct interviews with Grantees, School Food Authorities (SFA), and retailers. We will also conduct focus groups with parents/caregivers of children who participate in Summer EBT. To achieve the study objects we need your help with the following:

1. Grantee Interviews: We will interview one key staff person for your Summer EBT project. We ask that you identify the person with the most experience with Summer EBT implementation to participate in this interview. Over the next week, we will contact you to confirm who you have identified and schedule a time for the in-person interview.

2. SFA Interviews: We will conduct interviews with SFAs participating in Summer EBT. We would like you to identify and recommend two SFAs that could participate. Ideally, we would like to interview SFAs that differ from each other. For example, one with high and one with low Summer EBT participation rates, one rural and one urban, or one large and one small.

3. Retailer Interviews: We are also looking for your help in recruiting retailers for the study, as we are conducting short interviews with retailers that participate in Summer EBT in your area. We plan to interview five retailers and these should be local small businesses.

A member of our study team will contact you in the next week to answer any questions you might have, review the requests above, and find a time to schedule the grantee interview.

We greatly appreciate your support of this study and look forward to speaking with you soon.

If you have any questions, please contact our project team lead [INSERT SITE LEAD NAME] at [INSERT SITE LEAD PHONE NUMBER] from or e-mail [INSERT SITE LEAD EMAIL] @abtassoc.com.

Thank you in advance for your support and assistance.

Sincerely,

René Nutter

Project Director, Summer EBT 2019-2022 Evaluation

The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is conducting this study to obtain information about the experiences of the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) Project by grantees, retailers, school districts and participants. Participation in this study is voluntary and the information collected will be used to understand how Summer EBT projects are implemented in varying settings. This study does not collect personally identifiable information. Information collected in this study will be kept private to the full extent permitted by law. 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 0584-0524. The time required to provide this information collection is estimated to average 2 hours per response, including the time to review instructions, search existing data resources, gather and maintain the data needed, and complete and review the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: USDA/Food and Nutrition Service, Office of Policy Support, 1320 Braddock Place, 5th Floor, Alexandria, VA 22314 ATTN: PRA (0584-0524).