NonSub Change Memo - HMRF April 2022 Updates

To: Jordan Cohen

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA)

Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

From: Katie Pahigiannis and Pooja Gupta Curtin

Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE)

Administration for Children and Families (ACF)

Date: April 4, 2022

Subject: NonSubstantive Change Request – Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood Performance Measures and Additional Data Collection (OMB #0970-0566)

This memo requests approval of nonsubstantive changes to the approved information collection, Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood Performance Measures and Additional Data Collection (OMB #0970-0566).

Background

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approved the Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood (HMRF) Performance Measures and Additional Data Collection in April 2021. This information collection package supports the collection and reporting of performance measures by the 2020 cohort of Administration for Children and Families (ACF)-funded HMRF grantees and includes the quarterly performance progress report (QPR) and the semi-annual performance progress report (PPR) that grantees are required to submit to ACF. After OMB provided approval in April 2021, ACF requested modifications to the QPRs and PPRs.

The reports provide aggregate data on grantees’ programmatic activities and outcomes for the reporting period¹; they are used by grantees to self-monitor their performance and by ACF’s Office of Family Assistance (OFA) to monitor and manage the HMRF grants. Separate versions of the QPR and PPR are tailored to HM and RF grantees. The QPRs and PPRs are auto-generated by the Information, Family Outcomes, Reporting, and Management (nFORM 2.0) system that ACF requires grantees to use for HMRF data collection and reporting.

Through initial reporting, we have identified minor changes that would be helpful to grantees when completing reports and will improve data quality. We have also made updates to reflect changes in staff contact information. None of the proposed changes affect respondent burden and the purpose and use of the information collection remains the same. Details about the changes are described below.

Time Sensitivities

We are aiming to receive OMB approval before grantees submit their next reports on April 30, 2022.

Overview of Requested Changes

We have provided updated versions of the PPRs (Attachments I; Instruments 5HM and 5RF), QPRs (Attachments J; Instruments 6HM and 6RF), CQI Plan Template (Attachment K Instrument 7), Service Delivery Data (Attachment G Instrument 3), and survey instruments (Attachment E Instrument 1, Attachment F Instrument 2, and Attachment H Instruments HM 1-4 and RF 1-6).

1. Non-substantive QPR changes

QPR Section B-02.2b. QPR Section B-02.2b has been modified to better measure grantees’ progress towards annual targets they set for benchmarks of client participation in programming. Specifically, Tables 1 and 2 in Section B-02.2b now factor in clients’ participation in primary workshops, regardless of when they enrolled, when calculating progress towards the target for each participation benchmark. Previously, Tables 1 and 2 only factored in clients’ participation in the grant year in which they enrolled and were counted in QPR Section B-01 towards the grantee’s annual enrollment target. While this approach provided alignment between the clients included in Sections B-01 and B-02 of the QPR, it did not fully measure whether clients, on average, were receiving the intended number of primary workshop hours and the extent to which grantees were getting the intended number of clients to participate in and complete workshops. Client completion of workshop programming is an ACF priority.

Please see Section B-02.2b Tables 1 and 2 in the updated QPRs, which illustrate the new table formats for HM and RF grantees respectively.

QPR Section B-03.1 Quality Assurance and Monitoring, Staff training. This section currently includes three unnumbered tables that separately report on grant staff’s initial training, refresher training, and training unrelated to the program curriculum. For clarity during grantee and ACF review, these tables are now labeled 1a, 1b, and 1c.

2. Non-substantive PPR changes

PPR Section C-04.2b. PPR Section C-04.2b has been modified in the same way as QPR Section B-02.2b, for the same reason. Clients are counted in PPR Section C-03.2 towards the grantee’s annual enrollment target only in the year in which they enroll. However, clients will now be counted in PPR Section C-04.2b based on when they participate in primary workshop programming, regardless of when they enrolled.

Please see Section C-04.2b Tables 1 and 2 in the updated PPRs, which illustrate the new table formats for HM and RF grantees respectively.

PPR Section C-04.3. PPR Section C-04.3 has been modified to update the current table and calculations which report on individual service contacts received within the grant year. The current table will be replaced with two new tables which measure cumulative client receipt of substantive individual service contacts (ISCs) across grant years. ACF defines substantive ISCs as those ISCs involving direct contact with a client lasting 15 minutes or longer, which cover client issues and needs beyond just reminder contacts, and which are recorded in nFORM 2.0. This change will allow grantees and ACF to better monitor the provision of direct services to clients. Further, ACF requires RF grantees to provide their clients with at least 8 substantive ISCs over the course of their participation in grant programming, and the new tables will facilitate both ACF and grantee monitoring of this requirement.

Please see Section C-04.3 in the updated PPRs, which illustrate the new table formats for HM and RF grantees respectively.

PPR Section C-05.1 Quality Assurance and Monitoring, Staff training. As in Section B-03.1 of the QPR, this section currently includes three unnumbered tables that separately report on grant staff’s initial training, refresher training, and training unrelated to the program curriculum. For clarity during grantee and ACF review, these tables are now labeled 1a, 1b, and 1c.

PPR for HM grantees only, Sections C-02.9 and C-09.2.C (Relationship skills of youth clients at beginning and end of Program Exit, respectively). The descriptive text for these measures originally indicated a possible range of “1 (none of the time) to 5 (all of the time)” for the two outcomes in this table—“I have the skills needed for a lasting, stable romantic relationship” and “I am able to recognize the warning signs of a bad relationship”. However, the averages are based on a survey item response scale of “1 (strongly agree) to 4 (strongly disagree)” for youth entrance and exit survey items C1a.d and C1a.e. This typographical error does not affect what is reported in the average outcome cells in this section as they are based on actual survey item responses. However, it is necessary to update the descriptive text in this PPR section to correspond to the survey item response scale.

Please see Sections C-02.9 and C-09.2.C in the updated HM PPR, which illustrate the corrected format for HM grantees.

3. Non-substantive CQI plan template changes

The CQI plan template references “stakeholders” five times, in Sections D4, D6c, and E6c. Where feasible, OPRE is using alternative language for the word “stakeholder.” Please see the updated CQI plan template, which includes updated language.

4. Non-substantive PRA statement changes

The PRA statement on the data collection and reporting instruments approved under OMB #0970-0566 appears as follows:

PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT OF 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13) STATEMENT OF PUBLIC BURDEN: The purpose of this information collection is to support program performance monitoring and program improvement activities for Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood programs. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 3 hours per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and reviewing the collection of information. This collection of information is required to retain a benefit (SEC. 403. [42 U.S.C. 603]). The answers you give will be kept private. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information subject to the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB # is 0970-0566 and the expiration date is 04/30/2024. If you have any comments on this collection of information, please contact Dr. Mathew Stange at [email protected].

Due to a staffing change, and to account for any future changes, we have replaced the specific contact name with a space holder, as shown below. The email information remains consistent. Please see the updated PRA statements in the QPRs, PPRs, and other approved instruments that display the PRA statement.

PAPERWORK REDUCTION ACT OF 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13) STATEMENT OF PUBLIC BURDEN: The purpose of this information collection is to support program performance monitoring and program improvement activities for Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood programs. Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 3 hours per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and reviewing the collection of information. This collection of information is required to retain a benefit (SEC. 403. [42 U.S.C. 603]). The answers you give will be kept private. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information subject to the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. The OMB # is 0970-0566 and the expiration date is 04/30/2024. If you have any comments on this collection of information, please contact [Current Point of Contact Name] at [email protected].

1 ACF’s Office of Grants Management (OGM) requires grantees to submit QPRs after the first and third quarters (in January and July), and PPRs after the second and fourth quarters (in April and October), of each grant year.