Infrastructure Learning Community (ILC) Focus Group

Request for Approval under the “Generic ICR Name”

(OMB Control Number: 1225-0059)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Infrastructure Learning Community (ILC) Focus Group

PURPOSE:

Through the Building Pathways to Infrastructure Jobs (Building Pathways) grant program technical assistance contract with Jobs for the Future (Contract Number 1605C2-21-A-0007), the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is building an Infrastructure Learning Community (ILC). The goals of the ILC are to:

• Establish an online, centralized hub accessible to the greater field, including the broader workforce system and its stakeholders; recipients of other federal grants; local and state governments; and others leading, supporting, scaling, or developing infrastructure projects.

• Align and leverage the ILC through the co-creation and implementation of a shared communications strategy designed to deepen the impact of investments across federal agencies by enabling infrastructure stakeholders to benefit from a strong network, subject matter experts, and the latest real-time findings and resources from the BP program.

• Facilitate engagement and collaboration across infrastructure stakeholders, including funders, partners, grantees, policymakers, employers and industry, and subject matter experts that are focused on partnerships, sustainability, and increasing collective impact aligned with BP programmatic goals.

ETA would like to hold a series of four listening sessions with targeted groups of stakeholders to get feedback as the agency builds the ILC. Stakeholder feedback will inform functionalities of the ILC’s online, centralized information hub, as well as the types of information and resources to publish on the ILC.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

ETA plans to hold listening sessions with Building Pathways grantees and Good Jobs, Great Cities (GJGC) cohort members. We expected approximately 20% of our 34 Building Pathways grantees to participate, with approximately two individuals per grantee, for a total of 14 individuals. We expect approximately 20% of our GJGC cohort members to participants, with approximately two individuals per city, for a total of 7 individuals. In total, we expect approximately 21 individuals to participate in the listening sessions (with about half of participants from a state/local/Tribal government and about half from a non-profit organization).

There are 34 Building Pathways grantees funded through the Building Pathways grant program (a DOL grant program housed in the Office of Workforce Investment). These grantees are implementing private partnerships to provide worker-centered sector strategy training programs to meet workforce needs created by Investing in American federal investments and would be a key user group of the ILC.

Through a partnership between DOL and the National League of Cities, the GJGC Academy includes 16 cities working throughout 2023 and 2024 to develop innovative and scalable city-supported solutions that upskill and reskill workers into quality, high-demand jobs in infrastructure, clean energy, and advanced manufacturing jobs made possible by new federal investments, with a focus on supporting residents from historically underserved and underrepresented communities in order to address key shortcomings in their education and workforce ecosystem. GJGC is another key user group of the ILC.

We plan to hold two optional 1.5-hour listening sessions via Teams per respondent group (two for Building Pathways grantees and two for GJGC cohort members). Individuals would only attend one of the listening sessions. We will capture the listening session via notes taken during the meeting (as well as capture the chats), and respondents will have the option to follow-up with feedback via email after the session.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [ ] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software [ ] Small Discussion Group

[ X ] Focus Group [ ] Other: ______________________

CERTIFICATION:

I certify the following to be true:

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The results are not intended to be disseminated to the public.

5. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.

6. The collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the future.

Name:_Hannah Jenuwine_

To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ X ] Yes [ ] No

Yes, we would collect individuals’ names (in addition to their organizations and job positions).

2. If Yes, is the information that will be collected included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [ X ] No

3. If Applicable, has a System or Records Notice been published? [ ] Yes [ X ] No

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [ ] Yes [ X ] No

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
Private Sector	11	1.5 hour	16.5 hours
State, local, or Tribal government	10	1.5 hour	15 hours
Totals	21	3 hours	31.5 hours

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is _$0.00_________

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents

1. Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe? [ X ] Yes [ ] No

If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan)? If the answer is no, please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them?

We plan to invite the entire existing contact list of Building Pathways grantees and the entire existing contact list of GJGC cohort members. Any interested party will be able to join one of two listening sessions for their respondent type (Building Pathways grantee or GJGC cohort member). We will not be sampling for selection from this universe; individuals will self-select based on availability and interest.

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[ X ] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

Percentage of Respondents Reporting Electronically:

[ ] Telephone

[ ] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [ X ] Yes [ ] No

We will use Teams for four total 1.5 hour listening sessions. An ETA staff member will facilitate the conversation. Notes will be taken via Microsoft Word and the Teams chat messages will also be captured. Participants will have the option to follow-up with additional feedback via email after the session.

Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

Instructions for completing Request for Approval under the a Generic Clearance

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Provide the name of the collection that is the subject of the request. (e.g. Comment card for soliciting feedback on XXXXX)

PURPOSE: Provide a brief description of the purpose of this collection and how it will be used. If this is part of a larger study or effort, please include this in your explanation.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS: Provide a brief description of the targeted group or groups for this collection of information. These groups must have experience with the program.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: Check one box. If you are requesting approval of other instruments under the generic, you must complete a form for each instrument.

CERTIFICATION: Please read the certification carefully. If you incorrectly certify, the collection will be returned as improperly submitted or it will be disapproved.

Personally Identifiable Information: Provide answers to the questions.

Gifts or Payments: If you answer yes to the question, please describe the incentive and provide a justification for the amount.

BURDEN HOURS:

Category of Respondents: Identify who you expect the respondents to be in terms of the following categories: (1) Individuals or Households;(2) Private Sector; (3) State, local, or tribal governments; or (4) Federal Government. Only one type of respondent can be selected.

No. of Respondents: Provide an estimate of the Number of respondents.

Participation Time: Provide an estimate of the amount of time required for a respondent to participate (e.g. fill out a survey or participate in a focus group)

Burden: Provide the Annual burden hours.

FEDERAL COST: Provide an estimate of the annual cost to the Federal government.

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents. Please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them. If the answer is yes, to the first question, you may provide the sampling plan in an attachment.

Administration of the Instrument: Identify how the information will be collected. More than one box may be checked. Indicate whether there will be interviewers (e.g. for surveys) or facilitators (e.g., for focus groups) used.

Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

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