Frequently Asked Questions

1. 2008-2009 Frequently Asked Questions

2. Certificate of Attendance • Let us know if you have changed your e-mail or you don’t hear from us • Respond to email “request receipt” options • We will communicate through e-mails and update information our website. You will be responsible for reading those communications and following any changes to the program. Miscellaneous

3. Activity books • DVD clips - supplement • USB drive with generic advertising templates • Evaluation materials • As soon as you have each succeeding class scheduled—please notify your project manager and she will mail you your next set of evaluation forms. Miscellaneous

4. Keep Smart Steps binders. • If you need more, you can use grant funds to buy them from the National Stepfamily Resource Center. • Replace 1st page of lesson one. • Updated legal handout. • Remember this is not official legal advice—it merely provides an overview of current State laws. • Designed for facilitators not participants. Miscellaneous

5. Anyone who has a step relationship • Participation must be voluntary • Concurrent class(es) for children ages 6-18 and childcare for children ages 5 and younger • Really encourage sibling attendance • Head Start agencies may ONLY use grant money to serve families that are eligible for Head Start and/or Early Head Start Services. • "Confirmation of Head Start Eligibility” form 1. Who can participate in the classes?

6. “Completion” means couples must attend 5 of the 6 classes (not including the booster). If you are unable to honor this commitment, we will likely have to reduce or terminate your sub-contract for the following year. Furthermore, you should not invoice USU for the full amount of the current sub-contract unless you have served the minimum number of couples. Attendance numbers are critical this year! 2. What if we do not complete the minimum # of couples?

7. Completed: attend 5 of 6 classes Served: 8 hours of programmatic services Completed versus Served

8. “The best way” is whatever works. This will probably be different for each site. Successful recruitment will necessitate making the course attractive. We have produced advertising templates for you. You can also make agency specific advertisements that highlight this program. To justify staffing and implementation expenditures, adequate money needs to be spend on getting people to the classes. 3. What is the best way to advertise and recruit participants?

9. Set a date for your classes as soon as possible. Print the dates in your newsletters, advertise, and get the word out through your community partners. Avoid postponing the class after the date is set. 4. Should we set a date or wait until we have enough people to start?

10. Yes. The government wants us to target low-income couples. A cost to attend would be a barrier. 5. Do the classes have to be offered for free?

11. Yes! We would like every agency to establish an “enrollment period” or hold some type of registration session. We recommend the enrollment period end 1 or 2 weeks before the class starts so you know how much more recruiting you still need to do. 6. Should we do a pre-registration?

12. The first course needs to be completed by March 31st. All remaining courses need be completed by the end of the fiscal year (September 29, 2009). Booster expenditures, if incurred after Sept 29th, cannot be charged to this year’s funds. 7. When are we supposed to start and finish our classes?

13. Yes. The disclaimer is available at http://extension.usu.edu/stepfamily. The content, design, and layout of all media presented to the general public must be approved by the government. Additionally you are welcome to use already approved media templates provided at our annual facilitator training conference. 8. Do we have to include the federal disclaimer on media?

14. No, not without prior approval of the USU Marketing Department. Contact your Project Manager for help receiving approval. Permission has been given to use the Smart Steps and National Stepfamily Resource Center logo. The logos are available at http://extension.usu.edu/stepfamily. 9. Can I use the USU logo to advertise for this class?

15. Yes. Childcare for children under the age of five. This is a great incentive for attendance that should be promoted. 10. Do we have to have childcare?

16. Anyone is welcome to attend. However, because of the Federal Defense of Marriage Act and the milestones established for this project, we’ve been told not to use federal funds to target gay/lesbian couples or to modify the program to make it more applicable to them. Note: This may change with the new administration. 11. Can gay/lesbian couples attend our classes?

17. Consider reading the surveys out loud to the whole group to ensure everyone understands each question. Another possibility is to help them individually to complete the required paperwork. Other examples: Blind, another language 12. What if participants are illiterate?

18. OFA grantees - Priority should be given to first time participants. Encourage re-enrollees to bring/refer another couple. OHS grantees – People can come back but you can’t count them a second time. 13. Can someone re-enroll (take the class twice)?

19. All participants must sign a consent form – including youth. Participants can choose not to fill out the surveys. Please do everything you can to encourage participants to complete the surveys. 14. Does everyone have to sign a consent form and complete the surveys?

20. That is fine; although in order to “count”, a couple must attend 5 of the 6 classes. The first time someone attends a class, they will need to read and sign the Consent Form for Adults and be given the domestic violence information form. Children will need to sign the Assent Letter for Children. "Confirmation of Head Start Eligibility" form. 15. What if a couple joins after the first class?

21. According to the government, allowable expenses – including incentives – must be: (a) reasonable, (b) allocable to the project and, (c) necessary and germane to the project. You are free to use non-Federal funds from other sources to pay for Federally non-allowable incentives 16. What incentives can we use to recruit and retain participants?

22. “I didn’t care either way ‘cause even if there wasn’t rewards or anything I still would have come.” “It’s a gracious offering that they give, but the classes benefit me, especially because they are free. I didn’t come for gifts, I came to learn.” “[The child] liked participating in the class, getting the $2 bill, he talked about it for a week.” Feedback on Incentives

23. “It was an incentive that got him to go the first time for me.” “I think the money was a big issue for him, that’s what got him out, was when I told him not only will you go and get this we will go and get pay every time we go and so that got him to say okay I’ll try it and then after we went one or two times the money didn’t matter to him anymore and we were going for the right reasons.” Feedback on Incentives

24. Yes! Your agency is on a subcontract with USU and since the project is funded with Federal money you are responsible for knowing and following Federal guidelines when spending it. Please be mindful that one agency’s mishandling of funds puts this whole project at risk. 17. Are we responsible for following Federal guidelines when spending the grant money?

25. Cost-reimbursable sub-contract You may only invoice USU for expenditures that were spent related to the implementation of this project. 18. What and when can we invoice USU?

26. We need copies of the USU attendance forms each week to facilitate data entry. We also hope you will use the attendance record to contact participants who miss a class. Expressing personal interest about your participants’ lives is probably the best retention strategy available. Phone calls and follow-up will greatly enhance retention. 19. Why do we need to track attendance?

27. All classes need to have 2 full hours of instruction. Factor in time for the meal and for data collection. 20. How much time should we schedule for each class?

28. We have provided forms for 30 people (15 couples) for each class. You can download and print extra English and Spanish versions of all the evaluation forms at http://extension.usu.edu/stepfamily/. 21. How do we get additional forms?

29. A booster session should be scheduled 4-6 weeks after the completion of each course. Make it appealing, enjoyable, and educational. We desire maximum attendance. Please do all you can to encourage all participants to come. 22. How do we handle booster sessions?

30. Yes. Paid and volunteer facilitators will be interacting with adults and youth. It is important we take all reasonable safeguards to protect participants. 23. Should facilitators have a background check?

31. We want this project to be enjoyable and successful for everyone. Please contact us if you are having problems or have concerns. Our funding, and therefore your funding, is dependant upon all of us “doing” what we told the government we would do. 24. What if we do not, or cannot, fulfill our agreement?

32. From the mouth of participants:Comments and Suggestions that should make us Think about the way we do thing

33. “I would like to see more copies of what’s up on the overhead. Handouts of what is on the overhead, ‘cause I was trying to write down a lot of the stuff and it was just really difficult and some overheads you know might have been helpful to some people.”

34. “They gave us food and $10 gift card every night and $100 at the end, which was unexpected.”

35. “The two little ones, I know, they liked the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.”

36. “I heard about the course from my fiancée's parents. I really think that it was such a good class, advertising and getting it more well known is a good thing because I don’t know how I would of found this.” “More publicity.” “Publicize more.”

37. “I think just getting it out in the community more and more. The more you have, introducing into school flyers or anything you need to do to get it into the parents home, so that parents can read it. Cause the only way I learned about it was just by chance.”

38. “It is very important that this course continues in Spanish because there are many people who came that don’t speak English. I don’t speak much English, but knowing that this course is taught in Spanish makes me feel good that there are people that worry about us.”

39. “There are more stepfamilies than traditional families.”

40. “A lot of conversation go beyond the purpose of this class and focus on personal lives and situations.” “Leave opinions out of the lessons if you’re going to call it facts.” “She knows the material…but spent a substantial amount of time on what seemed to not matter.”

41. “I think that the class would have been better if a couple that was totally rude and disruptive had been asked to leave.”

42. “More veggies in the salad”