Late last week, community leaders from SACReD (Santa Ana Collaborative for Responsible Development) presented the Sunshine Ordinance, a government transparency and participation bill, to the Santa Ana City Council's Ethics Committee.  As a result, the plan is to be presented to the City Council later this month. Read the article below for more information.

OC Register - 'Sunshine' proposal heads to Santa Ana Council

Contact - Andrew Hausermann, Community Organizer, (714) 931-6041, andrew@occcopico.org

One of OCCCO’s collaborative’s, SACReD, had their landmark government
transparency and participation bill, the Santa Ana Sunshine Ordinance,
reviewed by the Santa Ana Ethics Committee of the City Council on Thursday, June 7th.
For more information about the work this collaborative is doing, see the links below.

Contact – Andrew Hausermann, (714) 931-6041, andrew@occcopico.org 

• SACReD Bulletin for Ethics Committee
  
• YouTube - SACReD forum on Sunshine Ordinance
• OC Register Article – Proposed Sunshine Ordinance heads to City Hall

OCCCO community leaders joined others from PICO CA to visit the LA Unified School District to learn about their innovative small autonomous schools movement.  This movement came from a breakthrough agreement between the teachers union and LAUSD to create a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) that gave charter-like governance structure to local schools, opening the door for community and parents to have voice at table and have more local, school-site control and decision-making power.  The all-day research event sat leaders down with the teacher’s union, the coalition of community groups that led the effort, and the Superintendent’s office.  OCCCO leaders will continue to research how this model may benefit local Orange County students and schools. 

To learn more, contact Miguel Hernandez at miguel@occcopico.org, or at (714) 470-8178.

OCCCO community leaders met Santa Ana Deputy Police Chief Rojas to follow up on the impact made by the hard work of the immigration committee and allies to reform towing and checkpoint policies in Santa Ana.  Great news!  Towing incidents have reduced from 400 to 80 a month!  In dollar amounts, at approximately $1,000 per car, that means that $320,000 a month stays in the pockets of community members Glad to see our hard work is making a positive impact! 

To learn more, contact Miguel Hernandez at miguel@occcopico.org, or at (714) 470-8178.

Eight clergy, two community members, and partner organization Kidworks met with the Santa Ana Superintendent Melendez to explore concrete ways to work together to improve education for students in Santa Ana.  The group discussed opportunities such as the healthy kids survey (an assessment of health needs in the district), participation on the school climate committee, and partnering for the year-long voter engagement campaign that OCCCO is leading. The group asked Superintendent Melendez to work with them to develop a common covenant, and to attend a public forum to work with the community in May.  The Superintendent agreed. 

To learn more, contact Miguel Hernandez at miguel@occcopico.org, or at (714) 470-8178.

Garden Grove OCCCO leaders have been working for some time to develop a comprehensive plan for the city to work on their growing homeless issue.  Community leaders presented this plan formally to the city council with a series of recommendations.  The recommendations included: extending hours of public restrooms, offering more training for police officers, working with neighboring cities and supporting the construction of a multi-service center to streamline services for the homeless.  The Garden Grove group is amongst many in OCCCO working on homeless.  Other initiatives are in Anaheim, Fullerton and Costa Mesa. 

To learn more, contact Sandra Ortega at sandra@occcopico.org, or at (714) 931-6045.

Father/son OCCCO duo Enrique and Luis Bravo joined leaders from other PICO California efforts to meet with Attorney General Kamala Harris’ office to discuss immigration policies in California.  As the top law enforcement official in the state, leaders hoped to learn how they see the Secure Communities, or SCOMM bill functioning or not functioning in California.  The office agreed with PICO leaders that SCOMM has targeted non-criminal immigrants, and committed to working together down the road to fix how the program is operating. 

To learn more, contact Andrew Hausermann at andrew@occcopico.org, or at (714) 931-6041.

Thirty-five clergy and community partners met with new Santa Ana Unified School District Superintendent, Dr. Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana.  This second Santa Ana clergy luncheon brought together these faith and community leaders to think about education policy and systemic change.  Dr. Melendez shared her 100-day entry plan for students in SAUSD, presenting and honest analysis of what is not currently working, and a plan for moving forward.  Her presentation demonstrated leadership, transparency, and a commitment to working with the faith community in Santa Ana.  The clergy plan on meeting again in a small group setting to continue thinking together about how to create better schools for kids in Santa Ana.  The event was co-organized by OCCCO, CLUE, and the Building Healthy Communities project.  To learn more, contact Miguel Hernandez at miguel@occcopico.org, or at (714) 470-8178.