COUNTYWIDE : Coalition to Promote Citizen Activism

Saying that local government must improve education, a coalition of community leaders representing families countywide announced Wednesday its new public policy goals and the start of a massive voter registration drive.

Orange County Congregation Community Organizations officials unveiled their “Lighting the Way” campaign during a 30-minute press conference at Madison Park in Santa Ana.

The campaign is aimed at spurring community discussion and activism on a wide range of issues from drugs and crime to recreation and employment.

“This is a real, bold declaration on our part of what Orange County needs to do to forge a prosperous future for itself,” said Msgr. Jaime Soto, a spokesman for the group.

The platform unveiled Wednesday is short on specific plans but calls for closer police ties with the community, job training programs, affordable housing, supervised after-school recreation for students and inexpensive health care.

“We’re not giving up on government,” said the Rev. Stephen J. Mather, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Anaheim. “But we are realizing that we have to show the government that there is a massive determination to solve these problems rather than ring our hands. . . .”

Mather said that on Saturday and Oct. 3, more than 1,000 OCCCO members will fan out into local cities to discuss the group’s agenda and register voters. Their goal will be to reach 50,000 families countywide and challenge them to take responsibility for changing the problems in their neighborhoods.

Founded in 1985, the multidenominational, multiethnic confederation of churches in a dozen cities aims at combining religious and family values with civic spirit and 1960s-style community organizing.

Highlighting some of the things they want to change, several civic leaders described problems they see daily in their own communities.

“I live in Costa Mesa. It’s a beautiful neighborhood, really nice city, new buildings, but at night we have hidden secrets,” said Paty Madueno, 36. The family members of one woman she knows sleeps on the living room floor “because they’re afraid of a runaway bullet.”

“Also, my son just started college and because of the budget crisis, he’s going to lose some of his classes,” she said. “He’s been trying to look for work, and there’s no work in Costa Mesa.

“So I don’t know, what can I do? This is the future not only of my children but the kids of Costa Mesa.”