Justification for Non-Material Change to OMB 1290-0045

Justification for Non-Material Change to OMB 1290-0045

This memo requests a non-material change to the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) package previously approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB Control No. 1290-0045) for data collection for the Pathway Home Grant Program Evaluation. These changes are requested as a result of the Executive Order entitled Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government (Defending Women).

Background

At the end of 2018, about 6.7 million adults were under some form of supervision by the U.S. correctional system. People released from incarceration face substantial obstacles to successful reentry. Not surprisingly given these challenges, 45 percent of those released from state prisons are without employment one year following release. Within this context, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) funded the Pathway Home grant program, which was designed to strengthen ties between pre-release services for those in local jails and state correctional facilities linked to post-release services available in the community. Using a continuity-of-care model, Pathway Home aims to allow participants to maintain the same case manager before and after release. The Pathway Home Evaluation is intended to provide DOL, grantees, and other stakeholders with practical information about the implementation of the grants that can build the knowledge base about reentry employment services, including those delivered before and after release. The impact evaluation will enable DOL to assess the overall impact of access to and participation in Pathway Home services. Since July 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has awarded approximately $113 million dollars to two cohorts of Pathway Home grantees to expand the availability of employment-focused reentry services for individuals incarcerated in U.S. jails, prisons, and community correctional facilities.

The Pathway Home Evaluation includes two components: (1) an implementation study to understand program implementation and partnership development and (2) an impact study to measure the effects of Pathway Home program services on participant outcomes.

The request included two data collection activities: structured discussions with grantee staff and the participant follow-up survey.

Change Requests

DOL requests changes to Follow-up survey for impact study participants to use an updated demographic question. This non-substantive change requests the following:

• The Follow-up survey for impact study participants have been updated to ask about “sex” rather than “gender”.

The survey instrument has been updated and provided in this package.

These requested non-substantive changes do not require any changes to the burden estimates.