State, Local, or Tribal Government

Appendix B. SNAP Agency Data Request

OMB Number: 0584-XXXX

Expiration Date: XX/XX/20XX

Dear [STATE/COUNTY SNAP DIRECTOR NAME],

We are writing to request your participation in a study to learn more about the interrelated factors that lead to household food insecurity in counties experiencing persistent intergenerational poverty. Your participation would consist of providing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) administrative data which would allow us to collect information from participants in [COUNTY] County. The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) within U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has hired Mathematica, an independent research organization, to help conduct this work.

The study’s goal is to advance a deeper understanding of the policy-actionable correlates of food insecurity in counties with persistent poverty. Advancing understanding of food insecurity and poverty in this environment can help in developing appropriate and effective policy responses through the SNAP, other USDA-administered programs, and community-based assistance.

To address this objective, Mathematica will collect information on food security, poverty, and related individual, family, and environmental factors in six counties experiencing persistent poverty.

• These counties were selected by FNS to represent the geographic breadth of the United States and that had at least 20 percent of their population living in poverty over the last 40 years.

• Mathematica will collect information through a comprehensive survey and in-depth interviews with SNAP participants and SNAP-eligible nonparticipants, as well as through focus groups with community service providers.

• We also will collect information from SNAP near-eligible nonparticipants, who might have recently been eligible for SNAP or might be eligible in the future and could be experiencing food insecurity. These households could be of interest to FNS for informing future research, as they may be likely to transition into and out of being food insecure or being poor.

A member of the Mathematica study team will contact you within a week of this letter’s receipt to set up a phone call. If you prefer that we contact one or more members of your staff directly for the initial conversation, please provide their contact information. We would be happy to discuss this request with them and share a summary with you by email.

We thank you in advance for your important contribution to this research. The information your state agency may provide will be critical in informing FNS efforts to understand the factors that lead to food insecurity in counties experiencing persistent intergenerational poverty.

If you have questions or concerns about this study or this request, please contact Michael Burke, the FNS project officer, at m[email protected] or (703) 305-4369.

Sincerely,

Kathryn Law

Director, SNAP Research and Analysis Division

Office of Policy Support

USDA, Food and Nutrition Service

This information is being collected to assist the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) in understanding the interrelated factors that affect food insecurity and poverty. This is a voluntary collection and FNS will use the information to aid in the administration of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. This collection does request personally identifiable information under the Privacy Act of 1974. 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 2 minutes (0.0334 hours) 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. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, Office of Policy Support, 1320 Braddock Place, 5th Floor, Alexandria, VA 22306 ATTN: PRA (0584-xxxx). Do not return the completed form to this address.

703-305-2138