Notice of Intent to Establish an Information Collection

AGENCY:

Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, USDA.

ACTION:

Notice and request for comments.

SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations (5 CFR 1320) that implement the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), this notice announces the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service's (CSREES) intention to request approval to establish an information collection for Children, Youth, and Families at Risk (CYFAR).

DATES:

Written comments on this notice must be received by December 3, 2004 to be assured of consideration. Comments received after that date will be considered to the extent practicable.

ADDRESSES:

Written comments concerning this notice may be mailed to Jason Hitchcock, E-Government Program Leader, Information Systems and Technology Management, CSREES, USDA, STOP 2216, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20250-2216 or sent electronically to: jhitchcock@csrees.usda.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

To request a copy of the information collection, contact Jason Hitchcock at (202) 720-4343; facsimile at (202) 720-0857; or electronically at: jhitchcock@csrees.usda.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: Children, Youth, and Families at Risk (CYFAR) Year End Report.

OMB Number: 0524-NEW.

Expiration Date of Current Approval: Not applicable.

Type of Request: Intent to seek approval to establish an information collection for three years.

Abstract: Funding for the Children, Youth, and Families at Risk (CYFAR) New Communities Project (NCP) is authorized under section 3(d) of the Smith-Lever Act (7 U.S.C. 341 et seq.), as amended, and other relevant authorizing legislation, which provides jurisdictional basis for the establishment and operation of Extension educational work for the benefit of youth and families in communities. The CYFAR funding program supports community-based programs serving children, youth, and families in at-risk environments. CYFAR funds are intended to support the development of high quality, effective programs based on research and to document the impact of these programs on intended audiences. The CYFAR Year End Report collects demographic and impact data from each community site which is used by CSREES to conduct impact evaluations of the programs on its intended audience.

The evaluation processes of CYFAR are consistent with the requirements of Congressional legislation and OMB. The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 (GPRA) (Pub. L. 103-62), the Federal Activities Inventory Reform Act of 1998(FAIR Act) (Pub. L. 105-270), and the Agricultural, Research, Extension and Education Reform Act of 1998 (AREERA) (Pub. L. 105-185), together with OMB requirements, support the reporting requirements requested in this information collection. One of the five Presidential Management Agenda initiatives, Budget and Performance Integration, builds on GPRA and earlier efforts to identify program goals and performance measures, and link them to the budget process. The FAIR Act requires the development and implementation of a system to monitor and evaluate agricultural research and extension activities in order to measure the impact and effectiveness of research, extension, and education programs. AREERA requires a performance evaluation to be conducted to determine whether Federally funded agricultural research, extension, and education programs result in public goods that have national or multi-state significance.

The immediate need of this information collection is to provide a means for satisfying accountability requirements. The long term objective is to provide a means to enable the evaluation and assessment of the effectiveness of programs receiving Federal funds and to fully satisfy requirements of performance and accountability legislation in GPRA, the FAIR Act, and AREERA.

Estimate of Burden: There are currently CYFAR projects in 48 States of the United States and 2 territories. Each state and territory is required to electronically submit an annual year end report to CSREES. The year end report includes demographic and impact data on each of the community projects. CSREES estimates the burden of this collection to be 322 hours per response. There are currently 50 respondents, thus making the total annual burden of this collection an estimated 16,100 hours.

Comments: Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Agency, including whether the information will have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the Agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology.