(a) Eligible Entities that are Private Nonprofit Organizations shall administer the CSBG program through a tripartite board that fully participates in the development, planning, implementation, and evaluation of the program to serve low-income communities. Records must be retained for all seated board members in relation to their elections to the board for the longer of the board member's term on the Board, or the federal record retention period. Some of the members of the board shall be selected by the Private Nonprofit Organization, and others through a democratic process; the board shall be composed so as to assure that the requirements of the CSBG Act are followed and are composed as:
  (1) One-third of the members of the board shall be elected public officials, holding office on the date of the selection, or their representatives. In the event that there are not enough elected public officials reasonably available and willing to serve on the board, the entity may select appointive public officials to serve on the board. The public officials selected to serve on the board may each choose one permanent representative or designate an alternate to serve on the board. Appointive public officials or their representatives or alternates may be counted in meeting the 1/3 requirement.
  (2) Not fewer than 1/3 of the members are persons chosen in accordance with the Eligible Entity's Board-approved written democratic selection procedures adequate to assure that these members are representative of low-income individuals and families in the neighborhood served; and each representative of low-income individuals and families selected to represent a specific neighborhood within a community resides in the neighborhood represented by the member.
  (3) The remainder are members of business, industry, labor, religious, law enforcement, education, or other major groups and interests in the community served.
(b) For a Public Organization that is an Eligible Entity, the entity shall administer the CSBG grant through an advisory board that fully participates in the development, planning, implementation and evaluation of programs that serve low-income communities or through another mechanism specified by the state and that satisfies the requirements of a tripartite board in subsection (a) of this section. The advisory board is the only alternative mechanism for administration the Department has specified.
(c) An Eligible Entity administering the Head Start Program must comply with the Head Start Act (42 U.S.C. §9837) that requires the governing body membership to comply with the requirements of §642(c)(1) of the Head Start Act.
(d) Residence Requirement. Board members must follow any residency requirements outlined in 42 U.S. Code §9910, or federal regulations made pursuant to that section. Low income representatives must reside in the CSBG Service Area.
(e) Selection.
  (1) Public Officials:
    (A) Elected public officials or appointed public officials, selected to serve on the board, shall have either general governmental responsibilities or responsibilities which require them to deal with poverty-related issues.
    (B) Permanent Representatives and Alternates. The public officials selected to serve on the board may each choose one permanent representative or designate an alternate to serve on the board.
      (i) Permanent Representatives. The representative need not be a public official but shall have full authority to act for the public official at meetings of the board. Permanent representatives may hold an officer position on the board. If a permanent representative is not chosen, then an alternate may be designated by the public official selected to serve on the board. Alternates may not hold an officer position on the board.
      (ii) Alternate Representatives. If the Private Nonprofit Entity or Public Organization advisory board chooses to allow alternates, the alternates for low-income representatives shall be elected at the same time and in the same manner as the board representative is elected to serve on the board. Alternates for representatives of private sector organizations may be designated to serve on the board and should be selected at the same time the board representative is selected. In the event that the board member or alternate ceases to be a member of the organization represented, he/she shall no longer be eligible to serve on the board. Alternates may not hold an officer position on the board.
  (2) Low-Income Representatives:
    (A) The CSBG Act and its amendments require representation of low-income individuals on boards. The CSBG statute requires that not fewer than one-third of the members shall be representatives of low-income individuals and families and that they shall be chosen in accordance with democratic selection procedures adequate to assure that these members are representative of low-income individuals and families in the neighborhoods served; and that each representative of low-income individuals and families selected to represent a specific neighborhood within a community resides in the neighborhood represented by the member.
    (B) Board members representing low-income individuals and families must be selected in accordance with a democratic procedure. This procedure, as detailed in subparagraph (D) of this paragraph, may be either directly through election, public forum, or, if not possible, through a similar democratic process such as election to a position of responsibility in another significant service or community organization such as a school PTA, a faith-based organization leadership group; or an advisory board/governing council to another low-income service provider; For a Private Nonprofit Entity the democratic selection process must be detailed in the agency's Certificate of Formation/Articles of Incorporation or bylaws, but the method detailed in the bylaws (if so described) must not be inconsistent with any method of selection of Board members outlined in the Certificate of Formation/Articles of Incorporation; failure to comply could result in a default procedure that does not meet the CSBG requirements and potentially jeopardizes the Eligible Entity status of the organization as detailed in §6.213 of this subchapter (relating to Board Responsibility). For a Public Organization the democratic procedure must be written in the advisory board's procedures, and approved at a board meeting.
    (C) Every effort should be made by the Private Nonprofit Entity or Public Organization to assure that low-income representatives are truly representative of current residents of the CSBG Service Area, including racial and ethnic composition, as determined by periodic selection or reselection by the community. "Current" should be defined by the recent or annual demographic changes as documented in the needs/Community Assessment. This does not preclude extended service of low-income community representatives on boards, but it does suggest that continued board participation of longer term members be revalidated and kept current through some form of democratic process.
    (D) The procedure used to select the low-income representative must be documented to demonstrate that a democratic selection process was used. Among the selection processes that may be utilized, either alone or in combination, are:
      (i) selection and elections, either within neighborhoods or within the community as a whole; at a meeting or conference, to which all neighborhood residents, and especially those who are poor, are openly invited;
      (ii) selection of representatives to a community-wide board by members of neighborhood or sub-area boards who are themselves selected by neighborhood or area residents;
      (iii) selection, on a small area basis (such as a city block); or
      (iv) selection of representatives by existing organizations whose membership is predominately composed of poor persons.
    (E) A Public Organization must not adopt a democratic selection process that requires all of the low-income representatives to reside in the political boundaries of the Public Organization, or that excludes all residents not in the political boundaries of the Public Organization from all participation in the democratic selection of all of the low-income representatives.
  (3) Representatives of Private Groups and Interests.
    (A) The Private Nonprofit or Public Organization shall select the remainder of persons to represent the private sector on the board or it may select private sector organizations from which representatives of the private sector organization would be chosen to serve on the board.
    (B) The individuals and/or organizations representing the private sector should be selected in such a manner as to assure that the board will benefit from broad community involvement. The board composition for the private sector shall draw from officials or members of business, industry, labor, religious, law enforcement, education, school districts, representatives of education districts and other major groups and interests in the community served.
(f) An Eligible Entity must have written procedures under which a low-income individual, community organization, religious organization, or representative of such may petition for adequate representation on the board of the Eligible Entity. Such petitions must be heard at a subsequent board meeting not more than 120 days after receiving the petition.
(g) Improperly Constituted Board. If the Department determines that a board of an Eligible Entity is improperly constituted, the Department shall prescribe the necessary remedial action, a timeline for implementation, and possible sanctions as described in §2.202 of this title (relating to Sanctions and Contract Closeout).

Source Note: The provisions of this §6.210 adopted to be effective December 2, 2021, 46 TexReg 8012