ATTACHMENT F_Recruitment Email to Program Managers

OMB Control No.: 0970-xxxx

Expiration Date: xx/xx/20xx

ATTACHMENT F: RECRUITMENT EMAIL TO PROGRAM MANAGERS

Dear Home Visiting Program Manager:

In collaboration with the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Administration for Children and Families in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded a contract to the Urban Institute to conduct a national survey of the home visiting workforce in implementing agencies funded through the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program. The survey is part of the Home Visiting Career Trajectories study.

We are writing to invite you and your home visiting staff to participate in this important national survey. Participation in the survey is voluntary, and each survey will be web-based and can be completed in about 20 minutes.

Additional tailored information to include in cases where other studies are ongoing:

We understand you may have recently received another request to participate in a research project. We want to assure you that these efforts, while similar, are complementary. This work would very much benefit from your participation, even if you’ve already participated in other ongoing studies in your area. If you have any question about how these studies are different and whether you should participate, please feel free to contact Tia Zeno, OPRE federal project officer, at tia.zeno@acf.hhs.gov or (202) 401-5079, or Heather Sandstrom, project director, at hsandstrom@urban.org or (202) 261-5833.

An automated email from the Home Visiting Workforce Study (hvcareers@urban.org) with a link to the program manager survey will be sent to you the week of XXXX XX, 2017. Please click on the link and complete the survey by XXXX XX, 2017.

The questions and answers below provide more details about the project. If you have any additional questions about the survey, please reach out to project assistant [XXX XXX] via e-mail (hvcareers@urban.org) or phone (1-800-XXX-XXXX) Monday-Friday 9am-5pm Eastern.

Q: What is the purpose of the study?

A: The two main aims are to:

1. Examine the characteristics, qualifications, and career trajectories of home visiting staff in MIECHV-funded implementing agencies; and

2. Identify strategies to build a pipeline of highly qualified home visitors and supervisors across States, territories, and tribes.

Q: Is participation required?

A: No. All MIECHV-funded programs are invited to participate, but participation is voluntary. Responses are kept private, there is no penalty for not participating, and the federal government will not know whether or not your program and staff choose to participate.

Q: Do you want to survey only staff whose positions are funded by MIECHV?

A: No. We are interested in surveying home visitors and home visiting supervisors regardless of how their positions are funded. They are eligible to participate because they work in a home visiting program receiving MIECHV funding.

Q: Why is participation important?

A: This is a critical opportunity to fill a gap in knowledge about the nature of the home visiting workforce on a national level. The federal government will use findings from the study in future planning around home visiting. Therefore, it is important that your program is represented in our findings.

Q: What does participation involve?

A: There are two survey versions: one for program managers/directors who oversee program implementation and staff hiring and training, and one for home visitors and home visiting supervisors. Both will be web-based and will take approximately 20-23 minutes each to complete. At the end of the program manager survey, you will be transferred to a secure system where you can provide work e-mail addresses for home visitors and supervisors in your program so the research team can invite them to participate. Individual employees will have the right to accept or decline participation.

Q: What does the survey ask?

A: The program manager survey will ask about staffing, funding sources, staff recruitment and retention, training and program management, and characteristics of families served.

The survey for home visitors and home visiting supervisors will ask about career trajectories, education and training, work schedules, compensation and benefits, work environment and supervision, interactions with families, and demographic characteristics.

Q: Do I have to share staff work email addresses? Can I just share the survey with them?

A: We encourage program leaders to inform their home visitors and supervisors about the study and the importance of participation. However, to effectively monitor survey completion and protect data privacy, the research team will need work email addresses for home visitors and supervisors in your program.

Q: Will I be able to receive my home visitors’ and supervisors’ data?

A: No. All data are kept private and will not be shared with employers. Survey data from your program will be combined with other programs’ data and summarized in a published final report and research briefs.

Thank you for your time and consideration of our research effort.

Best Regards,

Heather Sandstrom, Ph.D.

Project Director

This information collection is voluntary. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: Urban Institute (Attn: Heather Sandstrom), 2100 M Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20037.

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Home Visiting Career Trajectories OMB Supporting Documents: Recruitment Email to Program Managers