Executive Order  No. 472: Dissolution of Massachusetts Service Alliance Commission and designation of Massachusetts Service Alliance as alternative administrative entity

Whereas, by Executive Order No. 365, then Governor William F. Weld established the Massachusetts National and Community Service Commission (the "State Commission") in order for the Commonwealth to receive federal funding under the National and Community Service Act of 1990 (as amended, the "Act") for support of community service initiatives in the Commonwealth; and

Whereas, by Executive Order No. 400, then Acting Governor Argeo Paul Cellucci ordered that the State Commission may also be known as the Massachusetts Service Alliance Commission.

Whereas, the current State Commission has done an outstanding job in meeting its challenge to serve as a catalyst to energize, stimulate and link community service activity without dampening or inhibiting the innovative, entrepreneurial spirit that has been the hallmark of an evolving grassroots service movement in Massachusetts; and

Whereas, the Act permits the chief executive officer of a state to apply to the Corporation for National and Community Service as established under the Act (the "Corporation") for approval to use an alternative administrative entity to carry out the duties otherwise entrusted to a state commission under the Act; and

Whereas, use of such an entity would promote private sector involvement with, and management of, community services initiatives contemplated by the Act; and

Whereas, Massachusetts Service Alliance, Inc., a Massachusetts charitable corporation, has been playing a key role, in collaboration with the State Commission, in implementing programs under the Act and has been approved by the Corporation for that purpose; and

Whereas, performance of the functions required of a state commission under the Act would be facilitated if said Massachusetts Service Alliance, Inc. were designated as the Commonwealth's alternative administrative agency for purposes of, and subject to certain requirements of, the Act.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Mitt Romney, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, by virtue of the authority vested in me as Supreme Executive Magistrate, do hereby revoke Executive Order 365, as amended by Executive Order No. 400, and order as follows:

Section 1. Massachusetts Service Alliance, Inc., a Massachusetts charitable corporation established to foster and increase the ethic of service among Massachusetts citizens and to operate exclusively for charitable purposes within the meaning of the Internal Revenue Code (the "Alliance"), is hereby designated an alternative administrative entity for purposes of 42 U.S.C.A. 12638(a)(2) and subject to the requirements of 42 U.S.C.A. 12638 except as modified by this Order; provided that this designation shall be effective only upon written notification by the Alliance to the Governor that the Alliance accepts such designation under, and agrees to comply with the terms and conditions of, this Order.

Section 2. The designation of the Alliance effected by Section 2 of this Order may be revoked at any time by the Governor by further Executive Order, and the acceptance of such designation may be terminated by the Alliance at any time by written notice to the Governor, such termination to be effective ninety days from the delivery thereof.

Dissolution of Commission

Section 3. Effective upon delivery by the Alliance of notification of acceptance of designation as specified in Section 1, the State Commission established pursuant to Executive Order No. 365, as amended, is hereby dissolved, and the members thereof are discharged, with appreciation from the Governor for their service.

Leadership

Section 4. The Alliance shall structure its Bylaws, and conduct elections, so as to comply with all of the following compositional requirements:

(a) The governing board of the Alliance (the "Board of Directors") shall consist of not fewer than fifteen nor more than twenty-five voting members;

(b) The voting members of the Board of Directors shall not be appointed by the Governor, but instead shall be elected by the Alliance in accordance with this Executive Order and the Bylaws of the Alliance;

(c) The voting members of the Board of Directors shall include:

(i) An individual with expertise in the educational, training, and development needs of youth, particularly disadvantaged youth;

(ii) An individual with experience in promoting the involvement of older adults in service and voluntarism;

(iii) A representative of community-based agencies or community- based organizations within the Commonwealth;

(iv) The head of the Commonwealth's educational agency;

(v) A representative of local governments in the Commonwealth;

(vi) A representative of local labor organizations in the Commonwealth;

(vii) A representative of business;

(viii) An individual between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five who is a participant or supervisor in a program; and

(ix) A representative of a national service program described in section 42 U.S.C.A. 12572(a), such as a youth corps program described in 42 U.S.C.A. 12572(a)(2).

(d) Other persons to be elected as voting members of the Board of Directors may include:

(i) Members selected from among local-educators;

(ii) Members selected from among experts in the delivery of human, educational, environmental, or public safety services to communities and persons;

(iii) Representatives of Indian tribes;

(iv) Members selected from among out-of-school youth or other at-risk youth; or

(v) Representatives of entities that receive assistance under the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973 (42 U.S.C. 4950 et seq.).

(e) The Governor of the Commonwealth may designate four (4) nonvoting members of the Board of Directors as representatives of the Governor.

(f) The representative of the Corporation designated under 42 U.S.C.A. 12651 f (c) for the Commonwealth shall serve as an ex officio nonvoting member of the Board of Directors;

(g) To the maximum extent practicable, the voting members of the Board of Directors shall be diverse with respect to race, ethnicity, age, gender and disability characteristics.

(h) The voting members of the Board of Directors shall be elected without regard to affiliation with a political party; and

(i) The number of voting members of the Board of Directors who are officers or employees of the Commonwealth shall not exceed twenty-five percent (reduced to the nearest whole number) of the total membership of the Board of Directors.

Section 5. The voting members of the Board of Directors shall be divided into three groups of approximately equal size. Each such Director shall serve for a term of three years, and the terms of the three classes shall be staggered, so that the terms of one class of voting Directors shall expire each year; provided, that, voting Directors may be appointed for terms shorter than three years as necessary for the three classes of voting Directors to be of approximately equal size.

Duties of Alliance

Section 6. As a designated alternative administrative entity, the Alliance shall assume and perform the duties specified in 42 U.S.C.A. 12638(e).

Given at the Executive Chamber in Boston this 4th day of May in the year two thousand and six, and of the Independence of the United States of America two hundred and twenty-nine.

Mitt Romney

Governor

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

William Francis Galvin

Secretary of State.