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| Santa Ana Federal Empowerment Zone Demographics |
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| Population: | 54,652 residents |
| Median Age: | 23.5 years |
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| Race: | |
| Hispanic or Latino | 96% |
| Caucasian | 2% |
| African American | 1% |
| Asian | 1% |
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On Thursday, January 24, 2008 over 50 community leaders met to discuss the future of the City of Santa Ana Federal Empowerment Zone (FEZ). This all day event not only helped recognize the Santa Ana Empowerment Corporation's (SAEC) work throughout the years-which includes job creation, workforce development, economic incentives, community-building projects, and improvements in education-but clearly identified new ways to remain sustainable past its designation which ends December of 2009. The event served as a way for the community to directly influence the future of allocated funds and in doing so focused on two main topics: (1) identifying, as a group, what are the most pressing needs and or promising opportunities that exist in Santa Ana today; (2) of those needs and opportunities, what mission and or goals should this organization focus on? Touching on anything from childcare and education to entrepreneurship and job creation. This event helped inspire the development of a more sustainable community-based strategic vision that increased awareness about the community's well being and future needs. They did this by separating into revolving groups, allowing participants to really hone in on their ideas and personal perspectives in order to enhance the development of a sustainable strategic plan for the SAEC.
The results of this meeting will be a major contribution to the SAEC's Team on sustainability. This team will then use the recommendations obtained during the meeting along with other data to develop recommendations for continuing the SAEC beyond its designation. These recommendations will then be shared broadly throughout the Santa Ana community for one last round of feedback. The final feedback will be incorporated into a final document that will serve as a strategic plan for the board. The SAEC Board of Directors will make a final decision of how to proceed in presenting this decision to the City of Santa Ana for approval and endorsement.
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