[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 232 (Monday, December 5, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 74391-74392]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-26399]
========================================================================
Notices
Federal Register
________________________________________________________________________
This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains documents other than rules
or proposed rules that are applicable to the public. Notices of hearings
and investigations, committee meetings, agency decisions and rulings,
delegations of authority, filing of petitions and applications and agency
statements of organization and functions are examples of documents
appearing in this section.
========================================================================
Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 232 / Monday, December 5, 2022 /
Notices
[[Page 74391]]
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Notice of Intent To Extend and Revise a Previously Approved
Information Collection
AGENCY: National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA.
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) regulations, this notice
announces the National Institute of Food and Agriculture's (NIFA)
intention to extend and revise a previously approved information
collection, entitled Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program
(EFNEP).
DATES: Written comments on this notice must be received by February 3,
2023 to be assured of consideration. Comments received after that date
will be considered to the extent practicable.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments through the Federal eRulemaking
Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for
submitting comments.
Instructions: All comments received will be posted without change
to http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information
provided.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Laura Givens, 816-527-5379,
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title of Collection: Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program.
OMB Control Number: 0524-0044.
Expiration Date of Current Approval: 3/31/2023.
Type of Request: Notice of intent to extend and revise a previously
approved information collection for three years.
Abstract: NIFA's Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program
(EFNEP) at United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is a unique
program that began in 1969 and is designed to reach limited resource
audiences, especially youth and families with young children. EFNEP is
authorized under section 1425 of the National Agricultural Research,
Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 (7 U.S.C. 3175 and funded
under section 3(d) of the Smith-Lever Act (7 U.S.C. 343(d)). Extension
professionals train and supervise paraprofessionals and volunteers who
teach food and nutrition information and skills to families and youth
with limited financial resources. EFNEP operates through the 1862 and
1890 Land Grant Universities (LGU) 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 families and youth with
limited resources 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 Web-based Nutrition Education Evaluation and Reporting
System (WebNEERS), 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 provide
information for program management decisions and diagnostic assessments
of participants' needs and program fidelity. In order to capture all of
EFNEP's reporting requirements in one place, EFNEP program plans and
budgetary data are now submitted, reviewed, and approved through
WebNEERS. These specific reporting requirements are tied to release of
Federal EFNEP funds.
WebNEERS grew out of EFNEP's long-standing commitment to program
evaluation. Since EFNEP's inception in 1969, states have annually
reported demographic and dietary behavior change of their EFNEP
audience to the federal National Program Leader at NIFA, and its
preceding agencies within USDA. Increased rigor and attention to data
collection began in 1990 in response to communications with staff from
the House Committee on Agriculture, who expressed a need for greater
accountability and the ability to show the degree to which EFNEP was
meeting its objectives. Representatives from the Economic Research
Service, Food and Nutrition Service, USDA Office of Budget and Program
Analysis, as well as evaluation specialists from the Federal Extension
Service and its university partners, identified the most valuable
behaviors to measure, which then became the core components of the
system. Concurrence was received from staff for the House Committee on
Agriculture. Over the years, the system has been upgraded to align with
technological advancements, incorporate relevant evidence-based
practices and practice-based evidence, and address changes in data
collection standards and requirements (e.g., data collection on race/
ethnicity, updates to the U.S. dietary guidelines, etc.). Data
submission has evolved from paper forms, to discs, to the current web-
based system. With each of these evolutionary changes, the data
collection system was also reviewed for appropriateness and need for
changes to collected content. Development of WebNEERS began in FY 2011;
national implementation of this web-based platform began in FY 2013.
WebNEERS and its predecessor collection systems have been approved by
OMB.
Specifications for WebNEERS were developed by a committee of
representatives from the EFNEP and Extension community and others with
content and audience expertise from across the United States. These
specifications are in compliance with Federal Equal Employment
Opportunity standards for maintaining, collecting, and presenting data
on race and ethnicity, and protecting personally identifiable
information.
WebNEERS stores information on:
(1) Adult program participants, their family structure, and dietary
practices;
(2) Youth group participants;
(3) Staff;
(4) Annual budgets; and
(5) Annual program plans.
WebNEERS is a secure online system designed, hosted, and maintained
by Clemson University. WebNEERS is accessed through the internet via
[[Page 74392]]
internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, and Safari web browsers. It
can also be accessed through mobile devices and tablets. The existing
system incorporates local, university, and Federal components, the
EFNEP 5-Year Plan/Annual Update (program plan), the EFNEP budget and
budget justification, and the social ecological framework of the
Community Nutrition Education (CNE) logic model. Only approved users
can access WebNEERS and each user can only access data based on their
defined permissions. The system also has the capability to export raw
data for external analysis. Data exported from WebNEERS does not
include personally identifiable information (PII). Several stakeholder
groups provide ongoing input on the system to: (1) Ensure that EFNEP
only collects data NIFA needs for evaluation and reporting purposes,
and (2) Resolve bugs or other concerns experienced by users. These
stakeholder groups also give feedback to improve user interfaces and to
improve functionality and capabilities of the system.
The evaluation processes of EFNEP remain consistent with the
requirements of Congressional legislation and OMB, including the
Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993 (Pub. L. 103-62).
WebNEERS is a single web-based system that operates at three
levels: Region (County); Institution (university), and Federal. Data is
entered at the regional level and is available in aggregated form at
the Institution level in real time. University staff are able to
generate institutional-level reports to guide program management
decisions and to inform State-level stakeholders. In States that have
both 1862 and 1890 LGUs, separate reports are generated by each type of
institution on the respective audiences served. A permissions process
is used to allow data to flow from the Region to the Institution to the
Federal level. Data is not available at the Federal level until the
university staff submits it. This process allows for State and National
assessments of the program's impact. National data is used to create
National reports, which are made available to the public.
There are revisions to the currently approved collection. WebNEERS
uses an agile development process, which allows software developers to
work closely with users to operate smoothly, maintain securities,
improve efficiencies, and function effectively in the ever-changing
environment in which EFNEP is administered. It also supports an
accelerated incorporation of research-based indicators to appropriately
identify behavioral change.
NIFA is proposing a number of revisions to the previously approved
collection. The revised form will include ten additional questions on
the Adult Food and Physical Activity Questionnaire. The additional
questions were recommended by a multistate research group with
programmatic expertise and experience and will allow for greater
accuracy in reporting program impacts. NIFA also proposes to utilize a
direct data app that will allow participants to enter their own data.
This will improve data quality and reduce the amount of time required
to complete the collection. Additionally, NIFA is proposing changes
designed to improve accessibility. Finally, NIFA will include
technology indicators that better reflect the technology approaches
that have been incorporated into EFNEP program delivery.
Estimate of Burden: The total annual estimated burden for this
information collection is 14,744 hours. This includes the time needed
for participant education and data entry, aggregation, and reporting;
and for preparation, review, and submission of EFNEP program plans and
budgetary information.
Estimated Number of Respondents: 76.
Annual Responses: 76.
Average Time to Complete Each Response: 194 hours.
Burden Hours: 14,744.
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.
All responses to this notice will be summarized and included in the
request to OMB for approval. All comments will become a matter of
public record.
Obtaining a Copy of the Information Collection: A copy of the
information collection and related instructions may be obtained free of
charge by contacting Laura Givens as directed above.
Done at Washington, DC, this day of November 17, 2022.
Dionne Toombs,
Acting Director, National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S.
Department of Agriculture.
[FR Doc. 2022-26399 Filed 12-2-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-22-P