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INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY In 2007 the City Council established the Early Prevention and Intervention Commission (EPIC) to help develop a more strategic, coordinated, and collaborative effort between the City of Santa Ana, private industry, public entities, law enforcement agencies, social services, and the general public. The Commission consists of nine appointed commissioners and eight representatives from organizations that are stakeholders in the City of Santa Ana's future. EPIC's mission is to recommend strategies and policies to enhance opportunities for youth in the city and to help develop strategies that will significantly reduce gang involvement and its negative impact in the community. The primary objective of the Commission is to provide recommendations to the City Council for early gang prevention and intervention services and programs based on a coordinated approach, with a focus on developing a continuum of services based upon sound public policy3. While the Commission will make its recommendations to the City Council, the impact and scope of those recommendations will undoubtedly have broad implications on government, non-governmental organizations, the school district and the private sector. In effect, EPIC seeks to review the systems affecting youth and gang activity in Santa Ana specifically, but also in Orange County and statewide to the extent these systems affect local services and programs. In addition, EPIC will make recommendations for policies and strategies that will help increase coordination among all agencies, fill gaps in program and service delivery, and ultimately improve the community's capacity to empower its residents and reduce gang involvement and activity. The approach described above is consistent with the Santa Ana Police Department's well established Community Policing philosophy and Problem-Solving strategies. From its inception, the Commission adopted the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) Comprehensive Gang Model4 as its overarching framework to help accomplish its objectives. This model identifies a mix of strategies that were found to have a positive impact on gang problems, including mobilizing the community, providing opportunities for youth and parents, and other strategies that are part of a comprehensive system. The OJJDP Gang Model also prescribes that in order to fully understand the gang problem in a particular community and to determine the best long-term strategies and programs, a jurisdiction should conduct a comprehensive assessment. This assessment is usually conducted with a research or educational s City Ordinance NS-2732 a The OJJDP model, partly based on the "Sperger" model, was created in 2002 and has been implemented in several jurisdictions, including Riverside, California. EPIC Progress Report to City Council - 2008 Page 10 19D-11