Attachment C - E-mail Template for Key Informants

Attachment C: Key Informant Outreach E-mail Templates

The following e-mail templates will be used to invite key informants to participate in phone or video calls.

General Outreach E-mail (to potential key informants not already engaged in HS Connects)

Subject: Invitation to serve as Key Informant on OPRE Head Start Connects study

Dear [NAME],

I am a member of the research team for Head Start Connects: Individualizing and Connecting Families to Comprehensive Family Support Services (HS Connects), a research project funded by the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) within the Administration for Children and Families, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m writing to invite you to contribute to this project and share your expertise with our research team as one of the project’s key informants.

HS Connects will explore how Head Start programs across the country coordinate family well-being support services for parents/guardians and tailor services to individual family needs. These services include education, employment services, financial capability services, housing and food assistance, emergency or crisis intervention services, substance abuse treatment, physical health services, and mental health services. I’ve attached a brief project description to this e-mail. Findings from this work will benefit both Head Start programs and the early care and education field more broadly.

You were recommended as a potential key informant by members of the project team and its expert and stakeholder advisory panels. As a key informant, you will provide valuable input into HS Connects. Over the next month, we will be speaking with several key informants to understand variation in how Head Start programs coordinate family support services. We will also ask key informants to recommend programs that they think might be good candidates for inclusion in HS Connects as case study sites. In the spring of 2020, we plan to conduct case studies of six Head Start programs, exploring in-depth how they coordinate family support services.

We hope to schedule a video or phone call with you [if bringing multiple key informants together on one call: “and one or two other key informants”] in the next few weeks. The call will last no more than 90 minutes and will be scheduled at your convenience.

Participation is completely voluntary, and your responses will be kept private to the extent allowable by law.

Please let me know if you are able to participate in a 90-minute call in one of the following time slots by [DATE].

• [OPTION 1]

• [OPTION 2]

• [OPTION 3]

If none of these times work for you, let us know and we will provide more options. Thank you for your consideration.

Regards,

[SENIOR MEMBER OF RESEARCH TEAM]

[Attached: Attachment E: Project Description]

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. The OMB number for the described information collection is 0970-0356 and the expiration date is 6/30/2021. 

Outreach to Members of the Project’s Advisory Panel (already engaged in HS Connects)

Note: some key informants will be members of the project’s advisory panel, already familiar with the study. The following e-mail acknowledges their participation to date and requests their additional engagement as key informants.

Subject: Invitation to serve as Key Informant on OPRE’s Head Start Connects study

Dear [NAME],

Thank you for your participation on the Stakeholder Advisory Panel for the OPRE-funded Head Start Connects: Individualizing and Connecting Families to Comprehensive Family Support Services (HS Connects) study. As you know, in the spring of 2020, we plan to conduct case studies of six Head Start programs, exploring how they coordinate family support services. This year, we will be speaking with several key informants to understand variation in how Head Start programs coordinate support services and to identify potential case study sites.

I am writing to invite you to serve as a key informant and share your expertise with the project team. We hope to schedule a video or phone call with you [if bringing multiple key informants together on one call: “and one or two other key informants”] in the next few weeks. The call will last no more than 90 minutes and will be scheduled at your convenience.

During the call, we will discuss the range of ways in which Head Start programs approach the coordination of family support services. We will also ask you to recommend programs that you think might be good candidates for potential inclusion in HS Connects as case study sites.

Participation is completely voluntary, and your responses will be kept private to the extent allowable by law.

Please let me know if you are able to participate in a 90-minute call in one of the following time slots by [DATE].

• [OPTION 1]

• [OPTION 2]

• [OPTION 3]

If none of these times work for you, let us know and we will provide more options. Thank you again for being a part of the HS Connects study.

Regards,

[SENIOR MEMBER OF RESEARCH TEAM]

[Attached: Attachment E: Project Description]

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. The OMB number for the described information collection is 0970-0356 and the expiration date is 6/30/2021.