Z. Template Recruitment Email from Reg Office to Case Study Site_final_clean_final response to PRAO

Appendix Z. Template Recruitment Email from Regional Office to Case Study Site

OMB No. 0584-XXXX

Modernizing Channels of Communication
With SNAP Participants

March 2, 2020

Project Officer: Andrew Burns

Office of Policy Support

Food and Nutrition Service

U.S. Department of Agriculture

1320 Braddock Place

Alexandria, VA  22314

703.305.1091

Andrew.Burns@usda.gov

Modernizing Channels of Communication With SNAP Participants: Draft Recruitment Email from Regional Office to Case Study Site

PURPOSE: This template email can be customized by Regional Office staff and used to invite potential case study sites to participate in the study. The FNS Research team will reach out to the potential case study site, after this email is sent, to schedule a 30-mintue introductory call.

Subject: Invitation to participate in case study on [STATE]’s use of mobile communication strategies

Dear [STATE SNAP DIRECTOR]:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service has contracted with Insight Policy Research (Insight) to study the use of mobile technologies in SNAP. You and several staff members from [PROPOSED SITE VISIT STATE] are invited to meet with the Insight team in [STATE SNAP OFFICE CITY] during a 2-day visit to be scheduled in late 2020. By participating in this study, you will have an opportunity to showcase the progress your State has made and share best practices, challenges, and lessons learned with other States. If your State is willing and able to participate, it would require the following amount of time from each type of stakeholder during the 2-day visit:

1. State SNAP director: 60-minute interview

2. State staff involved in mobile communication strategies (MCS) implementation: 90-minute interview

3. Software developers and/or IT staff that have worked on MCS: 60-minute interview

4. Local office frontline staff: 60-minute interview

5. Other stakeholders/community partners: 60-minute interview

6. SNAP participants/MCS users: two 90-minute focus groups

7. Local SNAP office waiting room visitors/MCS nonusers: 5-minute survey

These meetings will help the Insight team better understand how States with MCS are using mobile technologies (such as mobile applications, text messaging, and mobile-optimized websites) to enhance SNAP participant experiences.

The Modernizing Channels of Communication With SNAP Participants study has four primary objectives:

1. Provide a general overview of how mobile technologies are used by all States and SNAP clients for case management and notification.

2. Conduct case studies of selected State SNAP agencies that use mobile technology for case management and/or notification.

3. Gather information on SNAP client satisfaction and clients’ perspectives on MCS.

4. Identify best practices and lessons learned from SNAP agencies’ and participants’ use of MCS.

For the study, Insight will work with five States to conduct 2-day site visits to gain in-depth understanding of the benefits and challenges of implementing MCS in each State. The site visits will include in-person interviews with State SNAP office staff, local office staff, software developers, and focus groups with participants. The five States invited to participate in the case studies were chosen because they collectively represent different stages of MCS implementation at the State and/or county levels and different geographic regions across the country.

A member of the Insight research team will contact you within a week to tell you more about the study and confirm your availability for an introductory telephone call to discuss more details about the study and gauge your interest. Thank you in advance for your time and consideration. Additional details about the project are provided in the enclosed study overview. If you have questions about the study, please contact Andrew Burns at andrew.burns@usda.gov.

Sincerely,

[REGIONAL OFFICE]

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is 0584-xxxx. The time required to read this email is estimated to average 2 minutes. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to the following address: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Services, Office of Policy Support, 1320 Braddock Place Alexandria, VA 22314, ATTN: PRA (0584-xxxx). Do not return the completed form to this address.