Newsletter Archive
-
Take Action! Health Center Program Forms and More
May 18, 2026by Meghan MauryRead MoreForm of the Week: Health Center Program Forms. These forms provide HRSA with information necessary for funding eligibility determinations and for program oversight of the Health Center Programs, which collectively serve tens of millions of low-income people, people in rural areas, and other underserved populations. HRSA is making dramatic revisions to this collection, including removing several forms altogether and modifying content collected on other forms. For example, HRSA is removing the "Community Characteristics" form, which historically collected information about the demographic characteristics of people served by the program. Based on the supplemental information provided, it appears that by removing this form HRSA will no longer collect data for these programs on characteristics of people served by topics like race, ethnicity, income level, type of insurance, sexual orientation and gender identity, homelessness or housing instability, language spoken, veteran or migrant status, and more.
Comments due May 22.Every time the government makes a change to a survey or a form — or introduces a new survey or form — you have the right to weigh in on that decision. The Take Action! newsletter highlights surveys or forms the government is changing, renewing, or introducing. Click the links to tell the government what you think about the changes they are making.
-
Take Action! Annual Report on Households Assisted by the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program and More
May 04, 2026by Meghan MauryRead MoreReport of the Week: Annual Report on Households Assisted by the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). LIHEAP provides assistance to low-income households to help pay for heating and cooling costs. This collection is used to gather information about LIHEAP program utilization and about the characteristics of households receiving LIHEAP support. ACF is proposing several changes to the collection, including removing questions on race, ethnicity, and gender, which will make it more difficult to determine if LIHEAP funds are serving communities equitably. According to the listing, ACF is removing the race and ethnicity questions because they are not statutorily required and not used for eligibility determinations.
Comments due June 8.Every time the government makes a change to a survey or a form — or introduces a new survey or form — you have the right to weigh in on that decision. The Take Action! newsletter highlights surveys or forms the government is changing, renewing, or introducing. Click the links to tell the government what you think about the changes they are making.
-
Take Action! Lifeline and Link Up Reform and Modernization (and More)
April 27, 2026by Meghan MauryRead MoreProposed Rule of the Week: Lifeline and Link Up Reform and Modernization. The Lifeline program is designed to help ensure that low-income Americans are able to receive affordable communications service. In this proposed rule, the FCC is making or considering several data-related changes to the program, including requiring collection of full Social Security Numbers, using the SAVE and Do Not Pay systems to verify participant identity, making changes to the "one-per-household" rule that could result in de-enrollment of many people who live in group quarters, disallowing state-based eligibility verification, and revising eligibility requirements to impose a five-year waiting period for eligible non-citizens and to mirror some of Medicaid's more restrictive eligibility requirements. These and other changes are designed to curb "waste, fraud, and abuse" in the Lifeline program.
Comments due May 4.Every time the government makes a change to a survey or a form — or introduces a new survey or form — you have the right to weigh in on that decision. The Take Action! newsletter highlights surveys or forms the government is changing, renewing, or introducing. Click the links to tell the government what you think about the changes they are making.
-
Take Action! National Survey on Drug Use and Health and More
April 14, 2026by Meghan MauryRead MoreField Test of the Week: National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Methodological Field Tests. Data from the NSDUH are used to provide estimates of substance use and mental illness at the national, state, and substate levels. NSDUH data also help to identify the extent of substance use and mental illness among different subgroups, estimate trends over time, and determine the need for treatment services. Generally, the methodological tests included under this listing will explore things like questionnaire design, participation incentives, and sampling techniques.
Comments due May 12.Every time the government makes a change to a survey or a form — or introduces a new survey or form — you have the right to weigh in on that decision. The Take Action! newsletter highlights surveys or forms the government is changing, renewing, or introducing. Click the links to tell the government what you think about the changes they are making.
-
Take Action! Shaping the Future of Loan Repayment and More
April 07, 2026by Meghan MauryRead MoreStudy of the Week: Shaping the Future of Loan Repayment. This new Participation and Repayment Progress in Federal Student Loan Plans study is intended to help IES understand which borrowers do and do not enroll in Income Driven Repayment plans, why they do so, how long they stay in their plans, their repayment behaviors, and other household finance and life course outcomes, as feasible.
Comments due May 18.Every time the government makes a change to a survey or a form — or introduces a new survey or form — you have the right to weigh in on that decision. The Take Action! newsletter highlights surveys or forms the government is changing, renewing, or introducing. Click the links to tell the government what you think about the changes they are making.