Mayor, School Supt. Back Plan to Aid Santa Ana Youth : Activism: But they say it will take time to implement program formed by church group after family survey.

The city’s mayor and its public school superintendent assured a cheering audience of more than 1,500 residents packed into St. Anne Catholic Church on Wednesday that they support a sweeping plan to help the city’s youth but said it could take time to implement.

Members of the Orange County Congregation Community Organization, representing 15 churches countywide, have spent five months surveying 10,000 Santa Ana families, researching other programs across the country and meeting with city and school officials to develop the plan. It is designed to reduce gang violence and provide jobs, security and after-school programs to Santa Ana youth.

“We’ve gone over in some detail each and every one of the suggestions. I think your leaders fully understand some will require funding from the federal government or private industry, and a few will require more meetings,” Mayor Daniel H. Young said. “With that understanding, I am here to endorse each and every one of these goals.”

The gathering was a follow-up to a meeting at the church last December, which drew an unprecedented crowd of 1,000 residents seeking solutions to gang violence and youth crime and pledging their commitment to draft a plan.

The Youth Action Plan presented Wednesday to Young and Santa Ana Unified School District Supt. Rudy Castruita calls for:

* An apprenticeship program at a Santa Ana high school that would prepare youths for jobs in a particular industry.

* An increase in city summer job openings from 500 to 2,000.

* Creation of homework centers and an expansion of the city’s PRIDE gang-prevention program.

* A family support center for parents and teens involved with drugs and gangs.

* Hiring more school counselors.

* Providing more community policing in three targeted areas.

“I can still hear the cry of a mother whose son was in trouble. She called me in the middle of the night for help, and I was unable to give it,” said resident Catalina Munoz as she asked for support for the plan. “We need crisis centers so our youths have somewhere to go.”

“My son left the house one night and didn’t return,” Carmen Aguirre said. “We found out he was in jail, but no one at school had let us know that he was headed for trouble. We need more counselors in the schools to communicate with parents, because otherwise this will continue. We want a better future for our children.”

Both Young and Castruita pledged to meet again with leaders of the organization in 60 days to talk about implementation.

Young said the city could take immediate steps to provide homework centers in city neighborhoods, find a building to house a youth program of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange and provide more money for Project PRIDE. But other goals will take more time and creative financing, he said.

Castruita said the school district can open its doors to after-school programs and expand an existing apprenticeship program to other high schools and will consider creating another fundamental school. But an increase in school counselors is costly and will have to wait, he said.

“We support every goal and we endorse every goal,” Castruita said. “I am deeply honored that the community is here tonight to stand up and be counted and hold us accountable for our youth.”

The Orange County Congregation Community Organization has a membership of 50,000 families in Orange County, 20,000 of them in Santa Ana. Members include congregates from five Santa Ana Catholic churches and 10 congregations of various denominations elsewhere in the county.

Organizers spread the word about the plan and sought input by knocking on doors, working phones and distributing surveys at churches.