[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 175 (Monday, September 12, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53799-53800]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-17983]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request

    In compliance with Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995 concerning opportunity for public comment on proposed 
collections of information, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health 
Services Administration will publish periodic summaries of proposed 
projects. To request more information on the proposed projects or to 
obtain a copy of the information collection plans, call the SAMHSA 
Reports Clearance Officer on (240) 276-1243.
    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collections of 
information are 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) 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 respondents, 
including through the use of automated collection techniques or other 
forms of information technology.

Proposed Project: National Resource and Training Center on Homelessness 
and Mental Illness--New

    The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's 
(SAMHSA), Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) and the Health 
Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) will fund an evaluation of 
the Policy Academies on Chronic Homelessness held in 2002, 2003, and 
2004. These Policy Academies were sponsored by the U.S. Department of 
Human Services (HHS) in partnership with the U.S. Department of 
Veterans Affairs, U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Department of 
Housing and Urban Development. The Policy Academies were 3-4 day 
meetings designed to help teams of State, Territory and local 
policymakers develop Action Plans intended to improve access to 
mainstream services for people who are homeless.
    This evaluation will assess the effectiveness of the Policy 
Academies in helping States and Territories address the problem of 
chronic homelessness. This evaluation has been conceptualized in two 
parts. The process evaluation will focus on the activities related to 
conducting the Policy Academies. The process evaluation interviews will 
focus on: (1) How the Policy Academy concept was developed, (2) how the 
Federal Partners implemented the Policy Academies, (3) what factors 
influenced the effectiveness of each step of the intervention (i.e., 
pre-Academy site visits, Policy Academy meetings, and post-Academy 
technical assistance), (4) what changes in the Policy Academy process 
occurred over time, (5) what challenges/barriers Federal Partners faced 
in the development and implementation of the Policy Academies, and (6) 
how future Policy Academies could be improved to better meet the needs 
of States and Territories. The process evaluation will include all 45 
States and Territories that participated in one of the Policy Academies 
on Chronic Homelessness, as well as the three Pacific Territories 
(American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, and 
Guam,) that participated in a special series of Policy Academies on 
Homelessness held in American Samoa and Guam.
    The second part, the outcome evaluation, will assess how successful 
State, Territory, and local policymakers have been in implementing the 
Action Plans that were developed at the Policy Academies. The outcome 
evaluation interviews will focus on: (1) How States and Territories put 
together their Policy Academy teams, (2) the content and overall 
quality of the Action Plans these teams developed, (3) to what extent 
States and Territories have been able to increase access to coordinated 
housing

[[Page 53800]]

and mainstream services for persons experiencing homelessness, (4) what 
challenges/barriers States and Territories faced in trying to achieve 
short- and long-term goals, and (5) to what extent relationships among 
the Governor's office, legislators, key program administrators, and 
public and private stakeholders were created or strengthened.
    In order to reduce burden on informants, the outcome evaluation 
will focus on a sample of States and Territories (the 19 States and 
Territories participating in the last two Policy Academies on Chronic 
Homelessness and the three Pacific Territories).
    Data collection will be conducted over a 12-month period and will 
include both telephone interviews and site visits. Data collection 
instruments are semi-structured and will be administered by trained 
evaluation staff. Telephone interviews will be conducted with state 
team leaders and other team members. During site visits, in-person 
interviews will be conducted with team leaders, other team members, and 
other stakeholders. Both telephone and in-person interview protocols 
have been adapted to reflect the slightly different Policy Academy 
process used in the Pacific Territories and to reflect the different 
needs, funding sources, resources, and service systems in these 
territories.
    The estimated annual response burden to collect this information is 
as follows:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     Number of      Responses/        Burden/      Annual burden
                   Instrument                       respondents     respondent    response (hrs)       (hrs)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    Telephone Interviews (Process Evaluation)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Team Leader Interview...........................             *80               1               2             160
Other Team Member Interview.....................              64               1             1.5              96
-------------------------------------------------
                                    In-Person Interviews (Outcome Evaluation)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Team Leader Interview...........................             *40               1               2              80
Other Team Member Interview.....................             154               1             1.5             231
Other Stakeholder Interview.....................             110               1             1.5             165
                                                 -----------------
    Total Annual................................             448  ..............  ..............            732
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Some States and Territories have more than one team leader.

    Send comments to Summer King, SAMHSA Reports Clearance Officer, 
Room 71-1045, One Choke Cherry Road, Rockville, MD 20857. Written 
comments should be received within 60 days of this notice.

    Dated: September 2, 2005.
Anna Marsh,
Executive Officer, SAMHSA.
[FR Doc. 05-17983 Filed 9-9-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4162-20-P