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INTERIM RECOMMENDATIONS While the Commission recognizes the comprehensive assessment will provide the basis for its strategic plan recommendations to the City Council in late 2008 or early 2009, it also believes that it has enough information and experience with the issues to make interim recommendations in addition to the comprehensive assessment that will help facilitate its work moving forward. 1. The Commission recommends that the City of Santa Ana conduct a comprehensive community assessment. A comprehensive assessment will allow the Commission, the community and its partners to make sound, practical and achievable recommendations to the City Council. 2. The City should seek opportunities to improve communications and coordination of all youth-related issues and grant applications. The size of the city and the scope of youth-based delinquency warrant consideration for a centralized point in the City organization to coordinate and direct youth-related efforts citywide. The Commission would like to work with the City Council to develop either a position or a clearly designated point of coordination within the existing City structure to ensure it is properly defined and aligned with City Council priorities. 3. The City Council should require that EPIC be informed of all new City at- risk youth and gang-related initiatives and planned programs to ensure consistency and alignment with EPIC focus goals and objectives. EPIC would merely review the initiative or program to ensure an opportunity to comment, alert the City to any potential conflicts or redundancies, and provide alternative views as appropriate. The review would be handled promptly so as not to delay any process, and would take place at the Commission's monthly meetings. The Commission would ensure all initiatives and programs be documented to the City in quarterly reports or Commission minutes. The Commission believes that its perspective would add value to any new youth- related initiative or issue. 4. The City Council should adopt a resolution which clearly identifies youth and youth-related issues as a top priority for the City. The Commission recognizes the City's Vision Statement incorporates the importance of youth and youth-related issues to the City, and the City Council fully supports a Youth Master Plan. The Commission also recognizes the City has a number of priorities, but at-risk youth issues should be a priority and merit a resolution supporting early prevention and intervention efforts specifically. The resolution should be clear that youth gang violence is a public health issue and will be treated accordingly. The council resolution must make the close coordination of EPIC Progress Report to City Council - 2008 Page 24 19D-25