Article 6. Community Action Programs of California Government Code >> Division 3. >> Title 2. >> Part 2. >> Chapter 9. >> Article 6.

(a) A community action agency shall be a public or private nonprofit agency that fulfills all of the following requirements:
  (1) Has been designated by the director to operate a community action program.
  (2) Has a tripartite board structure meeting the requirements of Section 12751.
  (3) Has the power, authority, and capability to plan, conduct, administer, and evaluate a community action program, including the power to enter into contracts with other public and private nonprofit agencies and organizations to assist in fulfilling the purposes of this chapter.
  (b) A community action program is a locally planned and operated program comprising a range of services and activities having a measurable and potentially major impact on causes of poverty in the community or those areas of the community where poverty is a particularly acute problem.
  (c) Component services and activities of a community action program may be administered directly by the community action agency, or by other agencies pursuant to delegation or subcontractual agreements with the eligible entity. They may be projects eligible for assistance under this chapter, or projects assisted from other public or private sources, and they may be either specially designed to meet local needs, or designed pursuant to the eligibility standards of the state or federal program providing assistance to a particular kind of activity that will help in meeting those needs.
  (d) For the purpose of this chapter, a community may be a city, county, multicity or multicounty unit, that provides a suitable organizational base and possesses the commonality of interest needed for a community action program.

(a) No new community action agency may be designated by the director for a political subdivision that is served by an existing community action agency unless any of the following exist:
  (1) The political subdivision is informed in writing by the director that the existing community action agency has failed to comply, after having a reasonable opportunity to do so, with the requirements of this chapter, subject to paragraph (5) of subdivision (c) of Section 12781.
  (2) The political subdivision is informed by its existing community action agency that because of changes in assistance furnished to programs to economically disadvantaged persons it can no longer operate a satisfactory community action program.
  (3) The director is petitioned by significant numbers of eligible beneficiaries to reconsider its existing designation and, based on that reconsideration, determines to designate an alternate community action agency.
  (b) In the event that the designation of an existing community action agency is revoked, the director shall designate a new community action agency within a period of 90 days after the effective date of the revocation, subject to Section 12750.2.
  (c) New community action agency designations may be made in political subdivisions or combinations of political subdivisions in a county or portion thereof for which no community action agency has been designated provided that the community to be served has a population of at least 50,000, as determined by the Bureau of Census from the most recent available census or survey. The director may waive the general requirement that the community to be served have a population of at least 50,000 in those instances where no practical grouping of contiguous political subdivisions can be made in order to meet that requirement.
  (d) A private nonprofit agency that serves a political subdivision or combination of political subdivisions having more than 50,000 population shall be entitled to petition the department for state designation as a community action agency, provided it has a governing board meeting community action agency requirements and has the capability to plan, conduct, administer, and evaluate a community action program.

For purposes of serving any area of the state in which community action programs cease to be provided, the director shall designate an organization in accordance with Section 9909 of Title 42 of the United States Code, as amended, and through a process that shall include all of the following:
  (a) Notice of intent to designate.
  (b) Request for proposals by any political subdivision or by any other qualified organization that can demonstrate adequate representation of low-income individuals in the development, planning, implementation, and evaluation of the community action program.
  (c) Invitation to the political subdivision to participate in the review of the proposals.

Each community action agency shall have a board of directors conforming to the following requirements:
  (a) One-third of the members of the board are elected public officials, currently holding office, or their representatives, except that if the number of elected officials reasonably available and willing to serve is less than one-third of the membership of the board, membership on the board of appointive public officials may be counted in meeting this requirement.
  (b) At least one-third of the members are persons chosen in accordance with democratic selection procedures outlined in regulations promulgated by the department to assure that the members represent the poor and reside in the area served.
  (c) The remainder of the members are officials or members of business, industry, labor, religious, human services, education, or other major groups and interests in the community.

The powers of the tripartite governing board of the nonprofit community action agency shall include the power to appoint the executive director, to determine major personnel, fiscal, and program policies, to approve overall program plans and priorities, and to assure compliance with conditions of and approve proposals for financial assistance under this chapter.

(a) If a political subdivision or local government is designated as a community action agency, it shall do all of the following:
  (1) Establish a tripartite advisory or administering board to provide input to the political subdivision or local government regarding the activities of the community action agency.
  (2) Share with its tripartite board the determination of the community action agency's program plans and priorities.
  (3) Provide for the participation of the tripartite board in the selection of the executive director of the community action agency, unless prohibited by local law, city charter, or civil service procedure.
  (b) The political subdivision or local government may, consistent with general and local law, delegate any or all of the following powers to the tripartite board:
  (1) To determine its own rules and procedures and to select its own officers and executive committee.
  (2) To determine, subject to the ratification of designating officials, the community action agency's major personnel, organizational, fiscal, and program policies.
  (3) To approve, subject to the ratification of designating officials, all program proposals, budgets and subcontractor agreements.
  (4) To oversee the extent and the quality of the participation of the poor in the programs of the community action agency.

(a) Each community action agency shall adopt procedures to provide a continuing and effective mechanism for securing broad community involvement in programs assisted under this act and for ensuring that all groups or elements represented on the tripartite board have a full and fair opportunity to participate in decisions affecting those programs.
  (b) Community action agencies shall establish procedures under which community agencies and representative groups of the poor that feel themselves inadequately represented on the tripartite board may petition for adequate representation.

In exercising its powers and carrying out its overall responsibility for a community action program, a community action agency shall have, subject to the purposes of this chapter, at least the following functions:
  (a) Planning systematically for and evaluating the program, including actions to develop information as to the problems and causes of poverty in the community, determine how much and how effectively assistance is being provided to deal with those problems and causes, and establish priorities among projects, activities, and areas as needed for the best and most efficient use of resources.
  (b) Encouraging agencies engaged in activities related to the community action program to plan for, secure, and administer assistance available under this chapter or from other sources on a common or cooperative basis; providing planning or technical assistance to those agencies; and generally, in cooperation with community agencies and officials, undertaking actions to improve existing efforts to overcome poverty.
  (c) Initiating and sponsoring projects responsive to needs of the poor that are not otherwise being met.
  (d) Establishing effective procedures by which the poor and area residents concerned will be enabled to influence the character of programs affecting their interests, providing for their regular participation in the implementation of those programs, and providing technical and other support needed to enable the poor and neighborhood groups to secure on their own behalf available assistance from public and private sources.
  (e) Joining with and encouraging business, labor, and other private groups and organizations to undertake, together with public officials and agencies, activities, in support of the community action program that will result in the additional use of private resources and capabilities, with a view to things such as developing new employment opportunities, stimulating investment that will have a measurable impact in reducing poverty among residents of areas of concentrated poverty, and providing methods by which residents of those areas can work with private groups, firms, and institutions in seeking solutions to problems of common concern.

Every community action agency has a fundamental responsibility to encourage, assist, and strengthen the ability of the poor in the areas served by the community action agency to play major roles in the organization; program planning; goal setting; determination of priorities; decisions concerning budgeting and financial management; key decisions concerning hiring of personnel, selection criteria, personnel policies, and career development programs; and evaluation of programs affecting their lives. The fundamental responsibility of the community action agency includes all of the following:
  (a) Seeking and bringing about ways to improve its own effectiveness as a channel through which the poor, local government, and private groups can communicate, plan, and act together in partnership. In that partnership, the poor shall have a strong voice or role, both directly and through representatives whom they have chosen.
  (b) Providing the representatives of the poor serving on the tripartite board of the community action agency with the tools and the support, including guidance, training, and staff assistance, that will permit them to participate meaningfully in the affairs of the community action agency, and in all of its programs and subcontractor agencies.
  (c) Encouraging the development of effective local organizations established and controlled by residents of poor neighborhoods and areas. Community action agencies are expected to provide training, technical assistance, and staff resources to enable the poor to develop, administer, and participate effectively in local area programs and to enter into the broader community discussion of problems and solutions relating to poverty.
  (d) Providing employment for poor persons in all phases of the community action program.
  (e) Continually ensuring that subcontractor agencies involve poor persons in the planning, conduct, and evaluation of subcontracted programs.
  (f) Working for the acceptance by other public and private agencies and organizations serving the community of effective and growing involvement of the poor in the planning, conduct, and evaluation of all activities that affect them and their inclusion in career jobs in the agencies.

Where a community action agency places responsibility for major policy determinations with respect to the character, funding, extent, and administration of and budgeting for programs to be carried on in a particular geographic area within the community in a subsidiary board, council, or similar agency, such board, council, or agency shall be broadly representative of the area and shall assure adequate opportunity for membership of elected public officials on such board, council, or agency.

(a) All Community Services Block Grant funds made available by Congress shall be used by the state, together with any state funds as may from time-to-time be appropriated for this program, and any funds as may be transferred to this program from other federal block grants, in accordance with the annual Budget Act.
  (b) No transfer of funds is permitted, under any circumstance, from the California Community Services Block Grant Program to any other block grant or program administered by the state or by the federal government.

(a) For the purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
  (1) "Agency" means a community action agency, limited purpose agency, or other organization that qualifies as an eligible entity pursuant to this chapter and that receives financial assistance from the total program funds, as defined in paragraph (2).
  (2) "Total program funds" means the federal Community Services Block Grant funds that remain after the amount reserved pursuant to subdivision (c) is set aside.
  (3) "Uncapped program" means a program that serves an uncapped area, as defined in Section 12730.
  (b) The director shall allocate federal Community Services Block Grant funds consistent with the following principles:
  (1) The historic distinction between minimum and nonminimum funded agencies and other eligible entities shall be minimized and eventually eliminated.
  (2) After the target allocation point as set forth in subdivision (c) is achieved, allocation adjustments shall treat all agencies equitably and without regard to minimum funding levels.
  (3) If federal Community Services Block Grant funding is reduced or increased, funds shall be allocated so as to avoid abrupt changes in current allocations.
  (c) For each fiscal year, the director shall first reserve from the annual federal Community Services Block Grant all amounts that federal or state law allows or requires to be set aside for statewide activities consistent with the purposes of the Community Services Block Grant, including, but not limited to, training, technical assistance, monitoring, coordination, and administration.
  (d) (1) The goal of this section is to achieve a target allocation point for each agency. The target allocation for each agency, except uncapped program agencies, shall be either two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) or the amount the agency received from the 2005 federal Community Services Block Grant award, whichever is greater. The target allocation point for each uncapped program shall be the amount it received from the 2005 federal Community Services Block Grant award. An agency with a target allocation point equal to the amount received from the 2005 federal Community Services Block Grant award shall have its target allocation point further adjusted pursuant to paragraph (6).
  (2) The director shall first assign an initial base allocation for each agency, except an uncapped program agency, that shall be equal to either one hundred seventy-three thousand five hundred fifty-six dollars ($173,556) or the amount the agency received from the 2005 federal Community Services Block Grant award, whichever is greater. The director shall assign each uncapped program an initial base allocation that shall be equal to the amount the program received from the 2005 federal Community Services Block Grant award even if it is less than one hundred seventy-three thousand five hundred fifty-six dollars ($173,556).
  (3) From the 2007 federal Community Services Block Grant, the director shall begin by allocating the initial base allocation to each agency. If the total program funds available that year are more than the amount required to fulfill the initial base allocation for all agencies, the allocation shall be adjusted pursuant to paragraph (4). If the total program funds available that year are less than the amount required to fulfill the initial base allocation, the allocation shall be adjusted pursuant to paragraph (5).
  (4) Commencing with the 2007 federal fiscal year, if there is an increase in total program funds in any federal fiscal year before the target allocation point is achieved, the additional funds shall be allocated as follows:
  (A) First, each agency that is not an uncapped program whose prior year allocation was less than two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) shall have its allocation increased until each of those agencies reach the target allocation point of two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000). The allocations to these agencies shall be prioritized initially to the lowest funded agencies to enable their allocations to, as much as the funding increase allows, float up toward the second lowest funded agencies, and then to this collective group of agencies to enable their allocations to float up toward the next lowest funded agencies, and so on until all of these agencies reach the target allocation point of two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000).
  (B) Second, once the target allocation point of two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000) is reached pursuant to subparagraph (A), additional funds shall be allocated proportionately among each of the agencies, including uncapped program agencies whose target allocation point equals the amount the agency received from the 2005 federal Community Services Block Grant award, in order to bring its prior year allocation back up to the target allocation point if it was previously reduced pursuant to paragraph (5).
  (C) Third, if there are some total program funds remaining during the same federal fiscal year when the target allocation point for all agencies is reached, the remainder shall be allocated to each agency in an amount that bears the same relationship to the total amount of the remainder as the number of persons living in households at or below the poverty level in each agency's respective service area bears to the total number of those persons living in the state, as reported in the most recent available decennial census.
  (5) Commencing with the 2007 federal fiscal year, if there is a decrease in total program funds in any fiscal year before the target allocation point is reached, the reduction shall be allocated as follows:
  (A) First, the reduction shall be subtracted proportionately from the prior years' allocation of each agency whose initial base allocation was greater than two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000).
  (B) Second, no agency shall have its current year allocation fall below the current year allocation for any other agency when the other agency's initial base allocation was less than the first agency's allocation. If the reduction in total program funds is greater than can be absorbed among the agencies whose initial base allocations were greater than two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000), the reductions shall also be applied proportionately among any other agencies necessary to maintain this rule.
  (C) Until the target allocation point is reached for all agencies, an agency that is not an uncapped program shall not have its current year allocation fall below one hundred seventy-three thousand five hundred fifty-six dollars ($173,556). At the discretion of the director, federal Community Services Block Grant discretionary funds may be used for this purpose.
  (6) If a new decennial census is reported before the target allocation point is achieved, the director shall first adjust the relative allocation among each of those agencies whose initial base allocation was equal to the amount it received from the 2005 federal Community Services Block Grant award by the percentage difference of the number of persons living in households at or below the poverty level in each agency's respective service area as compared to the number of those persons reported in previous decennial census, except that an agency that is not an uncapped program shall not have the adjustment pursuant to this paragraph reduce its current year allocation below the current year allocations of the lowest funded agencies pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph (4). All allocations made pursuant to paragraphs (4) and (5) shall take this census-based adjustment into account.
  (e) (1) Commencing with the first federal fiscal year after the target allocation point is reached, increases and decreases in total program funds for each federal fiscal year shall be proportionately allocated among all agencies relative to the prior year's allocation.
  (2) When each decennial census is reported, allocations made pursuant to this subdivision shall also be adjusted by the percentage difference of the number of persons living in households at or below the poverty level in each agency's respective service area as compared to the number of these persons reported in the previous decennial census, except that an agency that is not an uncapped agency shall not have the adjustment pursuant to this subdivision reduce its current year allocation below two hundred fifty thousand dollars ($250,000).
  (f) It is the intent of the Legislature that the allocation formula specified in this section not be used as a formula for other funding distributions.

Community action agencies funded under this article shall coordinate their plans and activities with other eligible entities funded under Articles 7 (commencing with Section 12765) and 8 (commencing with Section 12770) that serve any part of their communities, so that funds are not used to duplicate particular services to the same beneficiaries and plans and policies affecting all grantees under this chapter are shaped, to the extent possible, so as to be equitable and beneficial to all community agencies and the populations they serve.

A community action agency or eligible entity shall not use any funds received under this article to replace discontinued state or local funding.

Consistent with Section 1090, no Member of the Legislature, or any state, county, district, judicial district, or city officer or employee who also serves on a tripartite board shall vote on a contract or other matter before a tripartite board, that would have a direct bearing on services to be provided by that member, officer, or employee, or any business or organization which that member, officer, or employee directly represents or that would financially benefit that member, officer, or employee, or the business or organization that the member, officer, or employee directly represents.