NonSub Change Memo - BIF (Standard & ARC site)

To: Josh Brammer

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA)

Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

From: Megan Reid and Tiffany McCormack

Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE)

Administration for Children and Families (ACF)

Date: February 20, 2020

Subject: Nonsubstantive Change Request – Building Evidence on Employment Strategies for Low-Income Families (OMB #0970-0537)

This memo requests approval of nonsubstantive changes to the approved information collection, Building Evidence on Employment Strategies for Low-Income Families (OMB #0970-0537).

Background

The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) has funded the Building Evidence on Employment Strategies (BEES) study. BEES will include separate studies of up to 21 programs (or “sites”) aimed at improving employment outcomes and economic security for low-income individuals and families. Recruitment for these sites is currently underway and sites will join BEES on a rolling basis. OMB approved data collection instruments for this project on November 8, 2019. As described in the original information collection request package, as sites are enrolled, information collection documents may need to be tailored for specific sites. The first data collection activity is expected to begin in March 2020.

Overview of Requested Changes

This request is to (1) make minor changes to the standard Baseline Information Form and to (2) tailor a version of the form that will be used at the BEES Kentucky site, Addiction Recovery Care (ARC) to the site’s population. First, we have identified changes to improve the flow of the form in general. These minor changes are proposed for the standard Baseline Information Form, which may be tailored to additional sites in the future. Second, we propose changes to tailor the updated standard form to the ARC site. This tailored version is included as Attachment D-1: Baseline Information Form – ARC KY. ARC provides substance use disorder recovery services, housing, and workforce development services to individuals with a range of substance use disorders.

An overview of the requested changes is included below. These changes will not result in any changes in burden assumptions. Please see the updated Baseline Information Form documents to see how these changes are implemented.

Changes to the standard Baseline Information Form (Attachment D)

1. Added a question about the participant’s mailing address.

2. Added a “decline to answer” response option on all questions, to ensure quality of data collected.

3. Added an instruction (“Check all that apply”) and a “none of the above” response option on questions where more than one response option is permitted (see preferred mode of contact question, F.5, G.20), to ensure quality of data collected

4. Added instruction, “specify” to the response option “other,” on preferred mode of contact question.

5. Added new response options to questions (see question on social network usage, G1.b)

6. Reordered and renumbered questions:

   1. Moved the Contact Information: Relatives and Friends section from page 1 of the original version to the end of the form

   2. Reversed questions D.1 and D.2

7. Instructions for tailoring to site-specific versions have been modified. These would not appear in finished versions of the form (see question D.1 and Section F header.)

8. Aligned response options across all questions in the K.8 series.

9. Moved questions about children (originally the K.8 series, now the K.11 series) to the end of Section K.

10. Reformatted questions about child care arrangements (see K.11f and K.11g).

Changes to tailor the Baseline Information Form for the ARC site (Attachment D-1)

1. Tailored instructions to site-specific condition (see D.1).

2. Tailored response option on F.5 to the site.

3. Removed instruction under Section J (“Only to be used with relevant populations, except J.1 which will be asked of everyone”), as these questions apply to the population served by ARC.

4. Removed standard BIF questions K.1, K.3-K.7, and K.8d, as these questions do not apply to the population served by ARC, and renumbered remaining questions.

5. Removed instruction under section K (“Only to be used with relevant populations except for K.2 and K.8, which will be asked of everyone”), as these questions apply to the population served by ARC.

Time Sensitivities

Approval for the requested changes is desired before March 11, 2020, which is when study enrollment and use of the Baseline Information Form is slated to begin at the ARC site.

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