Fast Track Clearance Submission Template_SNAP-Ed Equity Project Listening Sessions_05.011.2023 NEB response

Request for Approval under the “FNS Fast Track Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 0584-0611)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: The Evaluation of Equity in The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Nutrition Education (SNAP-Ed) Service Delivery Project State and Implementing Agencies’ Listening Sessions

PURPOSE: USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is committed to continuous quality improvements that address equitable service delivery. As part of FNS agency priorities, the SNAP Nutrition Education Branch (NEB) is conducting an evaluation of equity in program access and service delivery of State SNAP-Ed programs. The purpose of this evaluation is to identify challenges and best practices in the equitable allocation of State SNAP Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention Grant Program funding and service delivery among diverse racial and ethnic groups, individuals with disabilities, urban and rural geographic locations, and indigenous communities.

The goal of SNAP-Ed is to improve the likelihood that persons eligible for SNAP will make healthy food choices within a limited budget and choose physically active lifestyles consistent with the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the USDA food guidance. FNS works with States and Territories to address food and nutrition security across the country through SNAP. SNAP-Ed, a component of SNAP, works to educate SNAP recipients and other eligible populations on how to stretch food dollars, be physically active, and make healthy food choices; and to develop policy, systems, and environment (PSE) supports to make healthy choice the easier choice for low-income communities.

FNS provides SNAP-Ed funding, in annual allocations, to State SNAP agencies (SAs), which in turn contract with implementing agencies (IAs) to deliver SNAP-Ed in local communities. All 50 States, the District of Columbia (DC), and Guam, currently administer SNAP-Ed through 171 IAs. SNAP-Ed IAs include cooperative extension offices of Land Grant Universities, other university departments, State and local public health departments and assistance agencies, food banks, Tribes and tribal organizations, and other public and private organizations. Implementing agencies deliver a range of nutrition education and obesity prevention interventions, including PSE changes, social marketing, and direct education, using multilevel and public health approaches, and working with national, State and local, multisector partners.

This information collection request (ICR) is one component of the Evaluation of Equity in SNAP-Ed Service Delivery Project, which is reviewing State plans and reports, analyzing SNAP-Ed output data and other relevant datasets; and engaging subject matter experts for their perspective on SNAP-Ed operations, SAs and IAs on their current practices, and groups that can represent the program participants’ perspectives to achieve the following:

• Review State SNAP-Ed notification processes which inform SNAP applicants and recipients, and other eligible individuals of the availability of SNAP-Ed program and services, to identify practices that promote awareness and participation in SNAP-Ed among underserved populations and geographic areas.

• Review and identify challenges and best practices in equitable State SNAP-Ed program planning processes, including needs assessment methodology and other measurements used to determine target populations, geographic locations, and State SNAP-Ed funding allocation for program planning and service delivery.

• Review and identify challenges and best practices related to equity in actual State SNAP-Ed service delivery to underserved populations and geographic areas.

This ICR applies only to the project’s engagement with State and implementing agencies described in the table below. FNS intends to host 10 listening sessions with up to 25 State agencies and up to 25 implementing agencies using the scripts and questions in Attachment A. These listening sessions will help provide insights on best practices and challenges in States’ notification practices, planning processes, and service delivery of SNAP-Ed. FNS will use the listening sessions’ qualitative feedback to corroborate and augment analyses from the quantitative data analyses, and the SNAP-Ed State plans and reports review components of the evaluation project.

Listening Session Priority Areas	Participant Group	Number of Sessions	Number of Agencies	Topics Included
End-to-End SNAP-Ed Notification, Planning and Service Delivery (4 sessions total)	State Agencies	Two	Up to 5 State Agencies per session (total up to 10 SAs)	Conducting outreach, planning, and service delivery practices Challenges within service delivery models Guidance and/or technical assistance
	Implementing Agencies	Two	Up to 5 implementing agencies per session (total up to 10 IAs)	Conducting outreach, planning, and service delivery practices Challenges within service delivery models Guidance and/or technical assistance
Notification Processes Only (2 sessions total)	State Agencies	One	Up to 5 State Agencies per session	Conducting outreach and marketing strategies Challenges notifying and/or conducting outreach to eligible people or populations Guidance and/or technical assistance
	Implementing Agencies	One	Up to 5 implementing agencies per session	Conducting outreach and marketing strategies Challenges notifying and/or conducting outreach to eligible people or populations Guidance and/or technical assistance
Program Planning Only (2 sessions total)	State Agencies	One	Up to 5 State Agencies	Program planning processes Challenges Guidance and/or technical assistance
	Implementing Agencies	One	Up to 5 implementing agencies	Program planning processes Challenges Guidance and/or technical assistance
Service Delivery Only (2 sessions total)	State Agencies	One	Up to 5 State Agencies	Inclusive service delivery Challenges Guidance and/or technical assistance
	Implementing Agencies	One	Up to 5 implementing agencies	Inclusive service delivery Challenges Guidance and/or technical assistance

Discussion sessions with FNS National Office and Regional Office staff, Federal partners from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and members of the Association of SNAP Nutrition Education Administrators and the Public Health Institute provided internal and external subject matter experts’ perspectives on SNAP-Ed operations and practices. FNS will separately engage no more than nine community-based organizations to gain insight on underserved SNAP-Ed eligible communities’ and populations’ perspectives on program notifications, access and service delivery.

FNS will use the information collected from the SA and IA listening session in this ICR, and all other components of the project internally for equity considerations in service improvement, training and technical assistance development, and program management.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS: Respondents will include SNAP-Ed program staff from SAs and their IAs. These IAs can include State Land-Grant universities and other institutions of higher learning, State or local departments of health or education, Tribes or tribal organizations, food banks, other public and private service organizations, and nutrition networks. FNS estimates that 75% of IAs are State, local, or tribal government entities, and 25% of IAs can be considered “businesses” for the purpose of this ICR. The full list of fiscal year (FY) 2023 SNAP-Ed State and implementing agencies are in Attachment B.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

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

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

[ ] Focus Group [ ] Other: ______________________

[ ] Quick census or surveys

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: Doris Chin, Nutritionist, SNAP Nutrition Education Branch

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

Personally Identifiable Information:

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

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

3. If Yes, has an up-to-date System of Records Notice (SORN) been published? [ ] Yes [ ] No [X] N/A

Sensitive Information:

1. Will sensitive information, such as demographic characteristics, be collected from respondents?

[ ] Yes [X] No

2. If yes, explain the necessity of such information to the programmatic objective(s)?

Gifts or Payments:

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

BURDEN HOURS

FNS intends to recruit up to 25 SAs and up to 25 IAs across 10 listening sessions. Each session which includes introduction and instructions, question and answers and closing remarks will last an estimated average of 90 minutes. The participation time estimate of 2 hours below includes time for reading the recruitment email (Appendix C, 3 minutes), informational flyer (Appendix D, 5 minutes), and the actual listening sessions (90 minutes), with 22 minutes accounting for the time participants might needed for contractor to schedule their listening sessions. FNS estimates that approximately 75% of implementing agencies are State universities or Extension services, State or local government agencies or tribal government entities. Therefore, an estimate of 19 IA staff will be in the State, local or tribal government category, and six IA staff will be in the businesses category.

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Burden
State, local, or tribal governments (25 State SNAP agencies plus 19 implementing agencies that are in this category)	44	2 hours	88 hours
Businesses (estimated 6 implementing agencies, such as food banks, nonprofit organizations or nutrition networks)	6	2 hours	12 hours
Totals	50		100 hours

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $127,973.24.

• FNS staff time: $5,330.65

  • GS-13, Step 4 Nutritionist working 40 hours at a rate of $59.04/hour based on the 2023 General Schedule for the Washington/Baltimore/Arlington locality; estimated cost plus 33% fully loaded wage rate is $3,140.93.

  • GS-13, Step 2 Nutritionist working 10 hours at a rate of $51.50/hour based on the 2023 General Schedule for the Atlanta locality; estimated cost plus 33% fully loaded wage rate is $684.95

  • GS-13, Step 1 Nutritionist working 10 hours at a rate of $52.28/hour based on the 2023 General Schedule for the Denver locality; estimated cost plus 33% fully loaded wage rate is $695.32

  • GS-14, Step 2 Supervisor Nutritionist working 5 hours at a rate of $58.75/hour based on the 2023 General Schedule for the Las Vegas locality; estimated cost plus 33% fully loaded wage rate is $390.69

  • Seven FNS Regional GS-12, Step 4 Nutritionist each working 1 hour at a rate of $44.98/hour based on the 2023 General Schedule for the rest of US locality; estimated cost plus 33% fully loaded wage rate is $418.76

• State SNAP agencies and implementing agencies staff time: $5,075.28

  • Fifty Social and Community Service Managers each working 2 hours at a mean hourly wage of $38.16 based on Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Code 11-9151; estimated cost plus 33% fully loaded wage rate is $5,075.28

• Contractor cost: $117,567.31

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

2. 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?

The potential group of respondents will be State SNAP agency (SA) personnel from the 50 States, DC or Guam, which are currently administering the SNAP-Ed program, and staff from their implementing agencies (IA). The full list of fiscal year (FY) 2023 SNAP-Ed SAs and IAs are in Attachment B.

FNS will select a total of 25 SAs, and 25 IAs that are contracted with these 25 SAs to provide SNAP-Ed programs and services. The selection criteria reflect the various sizes, organizational structures, and operations of SNAP-Ed providers. The selection process also considers a respondent’s ability to answer listening session questions, based on their experience and knowledge of SNAP-Ed. The criteria and selection of respondents are based on reviews of SNAP-Ed State plans and annual reports, data analyses and discussions with FNS SNAP-Ed Regional Coordinators who work closely with SAs and IAs. SNAP-Ed Regional Coordinators will make initial contact with selected SAs (Attachments C and D). The contractor project team will coordinate scheduling, logistics and facilitate the listening sessions.

FNS intends to include SAs from all seven FNS regions across the country, and select a purposive (non-random) sample using these criteria:

1. number of SNAP-Ed participants served out of eligible population

2. known geographic and participant diversity

3. number and type of SNAP-Ed provider partnerships and IAs

4. State data on food/nutrition security

5. State population sizes

6. respondents’ time in SNAP-Ed support role

FNS intends to include a purposive (non-random) sample of IAs from the States selected above, based on the recommendations from FNS Regional staff and SA staff, and these criteria:

1. type of IA, for example Land Grant Universities, State and local public health departments and assistance agencies, food banks, and other public and private organizations that administer SNAP-Ed, such as Tribes or tribal organizations and minority serving institutions

2. known geographic and participant diversity

3. State data on food/nutrition security

4. number of subgrantees an IA manages

5. respondents’ time in SNAP-Ed support role

Administration of the Instrument

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

[ ] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[ ] Telephone

[ ] In-person

[ ] Mail

[X] Other – Virtual Meetings (Note: Participants may join by web or dial in by phone)

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

Listening sessions will be facilitated by a contractor (Accenture Federal Services), who will adhere to pre-approved, open-ended questions for session participants. Attachment A contains the introductory script, interview protocol, and general closing remarks the contractor will use for each listening session.

Appendices

Appendix A. SNAP-Ed Equity Project Listening Sessions Protocols

Description: An explanation of the categories of listening sessions, script of introduction and instructions, all questions for the listening sessions, and closing remarks. Please note, the questions for the Notification, Program Planning, and Service Delivery groups are essentially the same as the End-to-End groups, except for a few additional questions for more in-depth information gathering.

Appendix B. SNAP-Ed State and Implementing Agencies FY2023

Appendix C. SNAP-Ed Listening Session Email to State Agencies

Appendix D. SNAP-Ed Equity Project State Agency Listening Sessions Flyer

(Please note, Appendix D will be sent together with Appendix C to selected State agencies.)

Instructions for completing Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback”

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 xxxx)

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. Note: Agencies should only collect PII to the extent necessary, and they should only retain PII for the period of time that is necessary to achieve a specific objective.

GIFTS OR PAYMENTS: If you answer yes to the question, please describe the incentive and provide a justification for the amount.

SENSITIVE INFORMATION: If you answer yes to the question, please describe the nature of the sensitive information being collected (e.g., race, sexual behavior or attitudes, religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered private) and provide a justification for its use.

BURDEN HOURS:

Category of Respondents: Identify who you expect the respondents to be in terms of the following categories: (1) Individuals or Households; (2) Businesses (i.e., Profit, Not for Profit, and/or Farms); (3) State, local, or tribal governments; or (4) Federal Government. Only one type of respondent can be selected per row.

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: Multiply the Number of responses and the participation time and divide by 60.

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.

Submit all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

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