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Sign On to the Santa Ana's People's Budget Platform <br />Dear Santa Ana City Council Member, <br />My name is Organizations Below. Currently, 70 cents of every dollar from the City of Santa <br />Ana's General Fund pays for the city's narrowly -defined 'public safety' entities, largely police <br />and fire. We stand with the #BlackLivesMatter movement, and with Santa Ana youth, <br />demanding a shift in public spending -- away from law enforcement, towards youth programs, <br />economic opportunities and housing. In short, our vision of thriving neighborhoods is not <br />possible without addressing the choke hold of law enforcement over our public dollars and over <br />our communities' wellbeing. I urge you to listen to the community and support the Santa Ana <br />People's Budget Platform. <br />Value: Invest in Youth: We call for the DEFUNDING OF POLICE, we call on city council to <br />redirect youth suppression spending into healthy youth development services, programs and <br />resources, such as mental health counselors, youth reentry programs, expungement clinics, <br />teen mom programs, jobs, internships, etc. <br />Value: Protect Immigrant Families: To meet the needs of the immigrant community and build off <br />of the city's investment in immigrant communities of over the last three years, the City should <br />expand its investment to $200,000 or more a year for the next 3 years for a more robust <br />Universal Representation program to ensure any Santa Ana resident facing deportation has <br />access to legal representation. <br />Value: Prioritize Workers, Worker Cooperatives and Small Businesses: We call on the City to <br />create a Worker Cooperative Development Fund to support the creation of local businesses <br />owned by their workers through training, technical assistance, incubation, conversion and <br />financing, and to put on the ballot a measure to waive business license fees and permit fees <br />related to the development and improvement of worker cooperatives. <br />Value: Invest in the Santa Ana Public Library; in art, educational, and recreational programs; <br />and in all other City agencies and staff that provide vital services to Santa Ana residents, other <br />than police: We call on the City to increase the budget of the Public Library, for additional <br />materials and staff support, including additional hotspots and computers for community use. <br />Value: Protect Immigrant and Low Income Renters: We call on the City to create an Eviction <br />Defense Fund and invest 1 million dollars to protect a Tenant's Right to Counsel, especially <br />when 90% of tenants facing eviction do not have legal representation. A City -funded Right to <br />Counsel program would ensure vulnerable tenants have representation in court. <br />Value: Housing Opportunities: We call on the city to preserve the city's Housing Opportunity <br />Ordinance and continue to collect in -lieu fees from developers that choose not to build <br />affordable housing. <br />