42 U.S.C. § 12336 — Independent State body

(a) Designation. A state cannot get a grant from an allotment under section 12337 or 12338 unless two things happen. First, the state's chief executive officer must designate an independent State body. Most of this body's members must be cabinet-level representatives from state agencies that deal with programs for young people. The rest of the body is filled with people appointed from several groups: private nonprofit providers who serve young people, advocacy and citizen groups concerned with young people, state legislative committees responsible for young people, young leaders (including people who receive services under this subchapter), business community representatives, employees of youth-service providers, local government representatives, and staff needed to develop the state plan, run and monitor it, help coordinate state activities, and act as visible advocates for young people by reviewing and commenting on plans, budgets, and policies and offering technical help. Second, this independent State body must: (A) design a system for how the state will distribute funds it gets under sections 12337 and 12338; (B) send a description of that system to the Commissioner to review and comment on; and (C) make sure the funding system favors local service programs that offer flexible services tailored to real needs, rather than a fixed list of services, that are rooted in and shaped by their communities, and that show they can build real collaboration among service providers, through joint planning, joint funding, joint delivery, shared intake and assessment, and similar arrangements. (b) Existing entity. The Commissioner can approve a state plan that names an already-existing state entity as the independent State body, as long as that entity includes the same kinds of members described in subsection (a) and is authorized to do the same range of interagency planning and coordination work.