2015-27416. Proposed Information Collection Activity; Comment Request

Proposed Project: Implementation Plan Guidance for the Tribal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Grant Program.

Title: Tribal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program Needs Assessment and Implementation Plan.

OMB No.: 0970-0389.

Description: Social Security Act, Title V, Section 511 (42 U.S.C. 711), as added by § 2951 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Pub. L. 111-148 ), created the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (MIECHV) and authorized the Secretary of HHS (in Section 511(h)(2)(A)) to award grants to Indian tribes (or a consortium of Indian tribes), tribal organizations, or urban Indian organizations to conduct an early childhood home visiting program. The legislation set aside 3 percent of the total MIECHV program appropriation (authorized in Section 511(j)) for grants to tribal entities. Tribal MIECHV grants, to the greatest extent practicable, are to be consistent with the requirements of the MIECHV grants to states and jurisdictions (authorized in Section 511(c)), and include conducting a needs assessment and establishing quantifiable, measurable benchmarks.

The Administration for Children and Families, Office of Child Care and Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Early Childhood Development, in collaboration with the Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, plans to awarded grants for the Tribal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (Tribal Home Visiting). The Tribal Home Visiting grant awards will support 5-year cooperative agreements to conduct community needs assessments, plan for and implement high-quality, culturally-relevant, evidence-based home visiting programs in at-risk Tribal communities, and participate in research and evaluation activities to build the knowledge base on home visiting among Native populations.

In Year 1 of the cooperative agreement, grantees must (1) conduct a comprehensive community needs and readiness assessment and (2) develop a plan to respond to identified needs. Specifically, grantees will be required to conduct or update a needs and readiness assessment, and develop an implementation plan to respond to those needs, including a plan for performance measurement and CQI and participating in or conducting rigorous evaluation activities. Grantees will be expected to submit the needs assessment and implementation plan within 10 months of the Year 1 award date.

Respondents: Tribal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program Year 1 Grantees.

Annual Burden Estimates

Instrument	Number of respondents	Number of responses per respondent	Average burden hours per response	Total burden hours
Tribal Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program Needs Assessment and Plan for Responding to Identified Needs	25	1	100	2,500
Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours				2,500

In compliance with the requirements of Section 506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Administration for Children and Families is soliciting public comment on the specific aspects of the information collection described above. Copies of the proposed collection of information can be obtained and comments may be forwarded by writing to the Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, 370 L'Enfant Promenade SW., Washington, DC 20447, Attn: ACF Reports Clearance Officer. Email address: [e-mail]. All requests should be identified by the title of the information collection.

The Department specifically requests comments on: (a) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information; (c) the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology. Consideration will be given to comments and suggestions submitted within 60 days of this publication.

Robert Sargis,

Reports Clearance Officer.