[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 225 (Monday, November 23, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64673-64675]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-31260]
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Economic Research Service
Notice of Intent To Seek Approval to Collect Information
AGENCY: Economic Research Service, USDA.
SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub.
L. 104-13) and Office Management and Budget (OMB) regulations at 5 CFR
Part 1320 (60 FR 44978, August 29, 1995), this notice announces the
Economic Research Service's (ERS) intention to request approval for a
new information collection from charitable organizations that provide
emergency food assistance; from food banks; from food pantries; and
from emergency kitchens.
DATES: Comments on this notice must be received by January 27, 1999 to
be assured of consideration.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION OR COMMENTS: Contact David M. Smallwood, Deputy
Director for Food Assistance Research, Food and Rural Economics
Division, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture,
1800 M Street, NW, Room N-2130, Washington, DC 20036-5831, 202-694-
5466.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: Application for ERS collection of information on charitable
organizations that provide emergency food assistance; food banks; food
pantries, and emergency kitchens.
Type of Request: Approval to collect information on charitable
organizations that provide emergency food assistance, food banks, food
pantries, and emergency kitchens.
Abstract: USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS) has the
responsibility to provide social and economic intelligence on consumer,
food marketing, and rural issues, including food consumption
determinations and trends; consumer demand for food quality, safety,
and nutrition; food market competition and coordination; food security
status of the poor; domestic food assistance programs; low-income
assistance programs; and food safety regulation. In carrying out this
overall mission, ERS seeks approval of information gathering activities
that would provide key information about the capacity of the Emergency
Food Assistance System (EFAS) to provide food assistance to low-income
households.
USDA, through the Food and Nutrition Service, administers several
food assistance programs that help low-income households obtain
adequate and nutritious diets. The largest USDA food assistance
program, the Food Stamp Program, is designed to provide food assistance
through normal channels of trade, by providing low-income consumers
with purchasing power to buy food at market prices from food retailers
authorized to participate in the program. Other programs, such as the
National School Lunch Program (NSLP), the School Breakfast Program
(SBP), and The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) provide food
assistance outside regular marketing channels. The NSLP and SBP provide
cash subsidies and commodity assistance to schools to help provide low-
cost or free lunches and breakfasts to schoolchildren. The Emergency
Food Assistance Program (TEFAP), distributes commodity foods to State
and local agencies for distribution to low-income households for home
consumption, or to
[[Page 64674]]
charitable organizations that prepare and provide meals for needy
people.
The EFAS interacts closely with USDA food assistance programs by
serving as a distribution outlet for TEFAP commodities and by providing
temporary or supplemental food assistance to many of the same needy
populations served by USDA programs. Through its Food Recovery and
Gleaning Initiative, USDA is coordinating public and private efforts to
increase the amount of surplus food channeled through EFAS providers by
33 percent by the year 2000.
EFAS providers are largely private, nonprofit organizations that
distribute groceries (nonprepared foods) and meals (prepared foods) on
a short-term or emergency basis, to needy individuals and households
who lack the resources to meet their own food needs. Recipients include
the elderly, the homeless, the unemployed, and the working poor, as
well as victims of natural disasters. Food banks, food pantries, and
emergency kitchens are important components of the system. Food banks
are primarily collection and distribution centers near the ``top'' of
the system, providing food to a large set of diverse and geographically
dispersed agencies/providers. Food pantries are distribution centers
that provide groceries and other basic supplies for use by recipients
in their homes or at other locations away from the distribution sites.
Emergency kitchens supply food for on-site consumption to people who do
not live at the site. Both kitchens and pantries focus on providing
emergency food to needy families in their neighborhoods.
In order to fully assess the interactions of these organizations
with USDA food assistance programs and their implications for public
policy, ERS must have information on providers' operating
characteristics, service areas, and resource base, the quantity and
type of food flowing into the system, the number of people served, and
providers' capacity to manage current and future changes in food demand
and resources. Information about the availability and demand for EFAS
services in prior years is also needed.
Previous research has examined interactions between EFAS providers
and the homeless 1 and has examined operating data from
limited numbers of EFAS providers.2 However, important
information gaps remain, due to such factors as (1) lack of national
representativeness; (2) a focus on the homeless population rather than
on the full set of clients served by the EFAS; and (3) lack of
comparability across studies, each of which had limited scope.
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\1\ Cohen, Barbara E., Nancy Chapman, and Martha R. Burt. ``Food
Sources and Intake of Homeless Persons.'' Journal of Nutrition
Education, vol. 24, no. 1 supp. January 1, 1990.
\2\ Second Harvest. Hunger 1997: The Faces & Faces. Chicago: The
Amburg Group, 1997
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To fill these information gaps, ERS, working with Mathematica
Policy Research, Inc., will survey food banks, food pantries, and
emergency kitchens. The sampling process for this study uses a multi-
stage design. In the first stage, the United States will be divided
into 2,000 mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive Primary
Sampling Units (PSUs) covering the 48 continental United States and the
District of Columbia, stratified by region, urbanicity, and size. A
random sample of 360 PSUs will be drawn. A listing of all food banks in
the country will be constructed, along with a frame of pantries and
kitchens in the 360 sampled areas. Obtaining lists of food providers
will require contacts with state TEFAP directors and national
religious, social service, and volunteer organizations, as well as
intensive telephone canvassing of public and private organizations and
government agencies at the local or county level.
When selecting the sample of PSUs, the measure of size will be the
square root of the estimated poverty population in each PSU. The ideal
measure would be the number of EFA providers, but this number is not
known. The number of providers is expected to be less than proportional
to the number of people in poverty. In previous work, the square root
factor has been found usually to reflect this relationship well.
After the sampling stage has been completed, a census of food banks
will be conducted, and data will be collected from all food banks in
the 48 continental United States and the District of Columbia.
Stratified random samples of food pantries and emergency kitchens will
be surveyed. To collect survey data, computer-assisted telephone
interviews (CATI) will be conducted with representatives of food banks,
food pantries, and emergency kitchens.
Respondent burden will be minimized by using CATI methods to
streamline the interviewing process, and by carefully training
interviewing staff on survey procedures. The objective of minimizing
burden will also be accomplished through careful attention to
instrument development, aimed at limiting content to only those domains
that are important to the agency's objectives, and by ensuring clear
question flow.
Responses will be voluntary and confidential. To ensure
confidentiality, data will be reported only in tabular form, with
analysis cells large enough to prevent identification of individual
providers. In addition, identifying information will be kept only by
the contractor and will be released only to the contractor's internal
staff who need it directly for the survey and analysis operations.
Estimate of Burden: To develop the sample frame, telephone contact
with representatives of national organizations will average 30 minutes,
and telephone contacts with state TEFAP officials and local or county
informants will average 15 minutes. CATI interviews with respondents at
food banks, food pantries, and emergency kitchens will average 45
minutes.
Respondents: Respondents are state and local governments, local and
national charitable organizations, food banks, food pantries, and
emergency kitchens. To develop the sample frame, 15 national-level
informants, 1 TEFAP official from each of the 48 continental States and
the District of Columbia, and 15 local-or county-level informants in
each of the 360 sampled areas will be asked for contact names,
addresses, and telephone numbers of food providers. For the CATI
survey, data will be collected from 1,657 food pantries and 1,470
emergency kitchens. All of the estimated 500 to 600 food banks in the
United States will be included in the food bank survey, and after
taking nonresponse into account, the number of completions is estimated
to be 440.
Estimated Total Annual Burden on Respondents: Estimated burden of
the development of the sample frame will be 7.5 hours for the national
organizations, 12 hours for the TEFAP officials, and 1,350 hours for
contacts in the 360 sampled areas, totaling 1,370 hours for all
informants. The estimated burden of the CATI interviews will be 330
hours for the food banks, 1,243 hours for the food pantries, and 1,103
hours for the emergency kitchens, totaling 2,676 hours for all
respondents.
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, including the
validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (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
[[Page 64675]]
the use of appropriate automated, electronic, mechanical, or other
technology. Comments may be sent to: David M. Smallwood, Deputy
Director for Food Assistance Research, Food and Rural Economics
Division, Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture,
1800 M Street, NW, Room N-2130, Washington, DC 20036-5831.
All responses to this notice will be summarized and included in the
request for Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval. All
comments will also become a matter of public record.
Dated: November 16, 1998.
Betsey Kuhn,
Director, Food and Rural Economics Division.
[FR Doc. 98-31260 Filed 11-20-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-18-P
