Junior State of America - Structure

Structure

For practical purposes, the JSA is broken down into 10 different tree-level branches. Most of these top-level branches are called States, others are Territories, and more are Regions. States are the most advanced and contain the most members, then territories, and then regions. When a region contains a pre-specified number of chapters and members, it may petition the Council of Governors (composed of the Governors from all States) to become a territory. When a territory attains a certain number of members and chapters, it may petition the Council of Governors for statehood.

The current top-level branches of JSA are:

• Northern California State
• Northeast State
• Mid-Atlantic State
• Southeast State
• Midwest State
• Ohio River Valley State
• Texas State
• Pacific-Northwest State
• Southern California State
• Arizona Provisional Territory

When a state becomes too large, the Council of Governors (the national executive branch, consisting of the governor from every state) as well as the legislative branch of the state-at-hand can break the state into two or more parts. The parts that break off of the state are known as territories, and gain statehood upon reaching a certain number of constituents and approval of the Council of Governors. JSA also includes an international chapter in Tegucigalpa, Honduras and the United States Virgin Islands.

In addition, substructures of states are regions, such as in the Mid-Atlantic State with the New Jersey Region (NJR) and South Atlantic Region (SAR).

The sponsoring JSF is a non-profit organization with an adult board of directors, trustees and paid staff. The JSA receives administrative and programming support from the JSF.