P.R. Laws tit. 21, § 4906a
(a) In order to promote the collaboration of the government sector with the people, establish an agile mechanism with municipal structure to channel and promptly attend to the needs of the population, as well as to promote self determination of the communities so that they can tend to situations of their respective sectors through public-private initiatives, the Community Organizations Unit is hereby created attached to the Office of the Municipal Affairs Commissioner.
The unit created pursuant to this section shall be responsible for promoting the cooperation and integration of the efforts made by civic entities and community leaders for the active participation of the citizenry in government and private processes that affect their neighborhoods and surrounding regions. This unit shall coordinate, with the Community Affairs Division established in § 4751 of this title and the Office of the General Coordinator for Socioeconomic Financing and Self Determination established in § 962 of this title, the existing efforts of community organizations to prevent the duplication of services and resources for the same projects, activities or purposes. For the purposes of this section, it shall be understood that community organizations are those entities whose purpose is to tend to affairs or work for the improvement of the community such as: community boards, special communities, residents associations, merchants associations, citizens councils or other similar organizations.
The Community Organizations Unit shall orient and offer its support to the entities that have been established to promote citizen participation. The orientation and support measures carried out by this unit shall be geared to advice on the operational, administration and financing aspects of the organizations, workshops on the mechanisms of effective communication with public and private entities, strategies for the appropriation of financial resources and the promotion of initiatives of community self determination, efforts which propitiate the active participation of persons in government and private processes that affect their neighborhoods and surrounding regions.
(b) To comply with its purposes, the unit shall have personnel with broad experience in the planning and development of activities regarding the organization, administration, and implementation of community actions initiatives. An annual sum of $206,000 is appropriated from unencumbered funds in the Commonwealth Treasury for the 2001-2002 year for the creation of the Community Organizations Unit attached to the Office of the Municipal Affairs Commissioner.
History —Aug. 30, 1991, No. 81, added as § 19.007 on Apr. 11, 2001, No. 18, § 1.