[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 88 (Monday, May 7, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26734-26735]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-10934]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Notice of Intent To Extend a Currently Approved Information
Collection
AGENCY: National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA.
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with 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 National
Institute of Food and Agriculture's (NIFA) intention to request
approval to extend the currently approved information collection for
the Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program (EFNEP). There are no
planned revisions.
DATES: Written comments on this notice must be received by July 6,
2012, 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 submitted by
any of the following methods: Email: gmendez@nifa.usda.gov; Fax: 202-
720-0857; Mail: Office of Information Technology (OIT), NIFA, USDA,
STOP 2216, 1400 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20250-2216
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gidel Mendez, eGovernment Program
Leader; Email: gmendez@nifa.usda.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program.
OMB Number: 0524-0044.
Expiration Date of Current Approval: 07/31/2012.
Type of Request: Intent to seek approval to extend the currently
approved information collection for three years. There are no planned
revisions.
Abstract: The USDA's NIFA Expanded Food and Nutrition Education
Program (EFNEP) is a unique program that began in 1969 and is designed
to reach limited resource audiences, especially youth and families with
young children. Extension professionals train and supervise
paraprofessionals and volunteers who teach food and nutrition
information and skills to limited resources families and youth. EFNEP
operates through the 1862 and 1890 Land Grant Universities in all 50
states, the District of Columbia, and in American Samoa, Guam,
Micronesia, Northern Marianas, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
The objectives of EFNEP are to assist limited resource families and
youth in acquiring the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and changed
behaviors necessary for nutritionally sound diets, and to contribute to
their personal development and the improvement of the total family diet
and nutritional well-being.
NIFA sponsors an integrated data collection process that is used at
the county, state, and federal level. The current data collection
system, the Nutrition Education Evaluation and Reporting System
(NEERS), captures EFNEP impacts. Its purpose is to gauge if the federal
assistance provided has had an impact on the target audience. It also
enables EFNEP staff to make programmatic improvements in delivering
nutrition education. Further, the data collected provides information
for program management decisions and diagnostic assessments of
participant needs. Specifications for this system were developed by a
committee of representatives from across the United States and are in
compliance with Federal standards for maintaining, collecting, and
presenting data on race and ethnicity and protecting personally
identifiable information.
NEERS stores information on: (1) Adult program participants, their
family structure, and dietary practices; (2) youth group participants;
and (3) staff. NEERS consists of separate software sub-systems for the
County and the State levels (State also refers to U.S. Territories).
Data is exported electronically to the State-level system. University
staff generates State-level reports for State-level stakeholders and to
guide program management decisions. They also export State-level data
electronically to the Federal office for State and National assessments
of the program's impact. The State compiled data is aggregated using
statistical software and then is used to create National reports which
are made available to the public.
There are no revisions to the currently approved collection.
[[Page 26735]]
The evaluation processes of EFNEP remain consistent with the
requirements of Congressional legislation and OMB. The Government
Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993 (Pub. L. 103-62), the
Federal Activities Inventory Reform Act (FAIR) (Pub. L. 105-207), and
the Agricultural, Research, Extension and Education Reform Act (AREERA)
of 1998 (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 multistate significance.
Estimate of Burden: The number of respondents has increased from 74
to 75 institutions (e.g., state responses), thus constituting a total
annual estimated burden of 93,225 hours for this data collection
process--for participant education and data entry, aggregation, and
reporting. Burden estimates are reflective of the previous version of
the data collection system. The burden for respondents was estimated
through feedback from a survey sent to nine institute-level EFNEP
Coordinators. Six surveys were returned. Burden takes into account only
the information collected in aggregate from the institutions and the
record keeping activities that take place in order to provide the
aggregated data; it does not include burden related to data entry at
the local level. Local data is used by the county and institute levels
to provide feedback to participants and to guide county and institute
level program management, impact and accountability decisions and
reporting.
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.
Obtaining a Copy of the Information Collection: A copy of the
information collection and related instructions may be obtained free of
charge by contacting Gidel Mendez as directed above.
Done in Washington, DC, April 11, 2012.
Catherine E. Woteki,
Under Secretary, Research, Education, and Economics.
[FR Doc. 2012-10934 Filed 5-4-12; 8:45 am]
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