Good afternoon, everyone.

If you all take your seats, please we can get go ahead and get started.

This is a special meeting of the El Paso City Council for Monday, February 23rd, 2026.

Mayor Johnson is present and presiding along with Mayor Potem Chavez, Representative Acevedo, Representative Boyatrejo, Representative Nino, Representative Pierro, Representative Flimon, and Representative Canales.

It is 110 p.m.

This is also a meeting of the Youth Advisory Board.

Present we have board members Madison Miller, Ariana Jaime, David Dorsey, Aliana Acuna, Leon Lerma, Rebecca Olguin, and Madison Serva.

Item one on the agenda is presentation and discussion on an update to the strategic plan, including but not limited to the proposed pillars, goals, objectives, and core strategies toward a two-year action plan.

All right, everyone, welcome, welcome to the 2026 strategic planning session.

One question, thank you, thank you.

One question, are we ready for it?

Yes, ready to jump in.

And so I have the honor of welcoming up Mayor Johnson to kick things off for us.

Well, good afternoon, everyone.

It's good to see everybody.

And I hope everyone had a good weekend.

I'm gonna make sure I don't knock anything off here.

Okay.

Alright, so it's great to be with everyone uh this afternoon, and as many of you know that yesterday was the El Paso Marathon, and some of you might have ran the 5K, the half marathon, or even the full 26 miles.

Although I didn't run yesterday's race, what I didn't know, and no one told me, that my first year in office would feel like I was running a marathon, but completely uphill in high heel shoes.

It's one of my little dad jokes there, and getting my kids with it.

So as we kick off the 2026 strategic planning session for the city of El Paso, and I can't believe just over a year ago, I stood before this great community for the first time as mayor, with an incredible deep sense of gratitude, and an even deeper sense of responsibility.

Over the past year, I have often asked what made us choose public service, and why this city means so much to us.

Most of us did not end up working for the city of El Paso by accident.

Somewhere along the way, something pulled you here.

A family member, a teacher, a neighbor or a friend, are just simply a love for the place we all call home and a belief that El Paso deserves our best.

Like many of our city council members, when we were campaigning, we spent months listening at doorstops, doorsteps in neighborhoods, at small businesses, and in community meetings, and we heard from partners.

We heard from parents, seniors, small business owners, and young people trying to decide if they can build their future here.

All the conversations were meaningful, but one has stayed with me.

I met a woman named Maria who lived in District One.

She told me that she absolutely loved El Paso.

But she was worried that she might have to leave because she couldn't no longer afford to live here.

She said she might have to move to New Mexico.

Not because she wanted to, but because she had to.

And we also have to be honest.

There's a lot of misinformation out there about El Paso.

People who have never been here think they know our story.

We know better.

We know El Paso is defined by its people, its neighborhoods, and its sense of community.

That means we have to own our story and tell it with pride.

Not just from City Hall, but across our whole community.

El Paso is special.

We are unique even among border cities.

This is a city with a story worth telling.

And how we show up for the people who trust us.

This year's theme, greetings from El Paso says a lot.

It's a message to the world and a reminder to ourselves of who we are and what we stand for.

We are not going to fix everything at once.

But we can choose to move in the right direction.

We can choose to be thoughtful.

We can choose to be disciplined.

And we can choose to lead with people like Maria and families like her and mine.

Fiscal responsibility is part of that.

Not because of numbers, not because numbers matter more than people, but because being good stewards is how we protect the people who call El Paso home.

As a first-time mayor, I have learned that progress is not driven by one voice.

It is driven by the people who listen, who care and who move forward together.

This is what I see in this room.

So as we begin the planning process, remember this.

We are all in this together.

Not because we share titles, but because we share responsibility for this city and its future.

If we do this work well, people may never may not remember every meeting.

People may not remember all of our names, but they will feel the difference in their neighborhoods, in their opportunities, and in their pride in El Paso.

So before we get started, I want to give a very special thank you to Julie and Amy for all the very hard work that they did in putting this meeting together.

So please join me in giving them a round of applause.

And again, today is you know, greetings from El Paso, and on the screen, I was asked to do the greetings from the mayor and why I chose to live here.

The warmth of El Pasoans, the opportunity that El Paso brings, jobs and the ability for me and others to start businesses.

What I want most for El Paso is the opportunity to showcase how beautiful El Paso is to the rest of the nation.

If I were writing the story of El Paso today, it would say El Paso may be small to some, but it is mighty, strong and very capable to grow into something truly special for everyone.

We are going to have a very good strategic meeting today, and thank you guys for coming, and we're looking forward to everyone's participation today.

But again, we can move our community forward if we all work together as one unit.

So with that said, I'm going to ask our city manager to come up and say a few words.

Thank you guys.

Mayor, thank you for setting the telling this afternoon.

For anyone who has participated in a citywide planning session, it can feel like a lot.

But at the core, the process comes down to one simple question.

What are we going to focus on over the next two years?

And are we prepared to fund it?

This is the work before you today.

Over the past several months, staff has laid the groundwork so that this conversation is informed, not theoretical.

We conducted district level engagement.

I want to thank mayor and council for having given so much of your time along this process.

I've been here for 15 years, and I can't recall us ever having the districts be this involved in the process.

And so, although it was a heavy lift, I feel so confident that we've captured so many voices in a different way to really be able to help you feel well informed in the decisions that you'll be making next.

Over the past several months, we surveyed residents and employees.

We looked at service request trends and performance metrics.

We looked at workforce capacity, we aligned everything to our brand new performance-based budget framework.

We started with the evidence to hear the voice of the customer, to hear the voice of Maria, to ensure that this work really reflects the things that are important to our community was really important for the staff to prepare council to be able to make these decisions in that framework.

Residents care deeply about this community, as the mayor mentioned.

What we heard through the survey was that they value safety, they value neighborhood character, they value belonging, they are frustrated with some fundamentals.

Street conditions, traffic, look into Chicago, cleansiness, access to good paying jobs, and whether they're receiving the value for their tax dollars.

These are not, they're not asking for complex things.

They're asking for reliability in their government.

So this session is about producing a document that becomes the guiding plan for us, not just another document that we're posting on our website, something that's going to be a living document that helps to guide our organization over the next two years.

From an administrative standpoint, strategic plans planning answers three basic questions.

What can this organization realistically deliver within 24 months?

What must be funded to make that delivery credible?

And what risk do we carry if we delay action?

As we consider the proposed pillars and core strategies, I encourage you to look through an execution lens.

If we prioritize infrastructure, are we prepared to sustain it?

If we expand public safety visibility, what does that mean for long-term personnel cost?

If we elevate economic mobility, what internal process improvements must incur occur to support that outcome.

These are not abstract decisions.

They affect staffing levels, contracting timelines, technology systems, maintenance obligations, financial sustainability.

A small number of well-funded priorities will outperform a longer list that stretches the organization too thin.

That discipline is the purpose of today.

Let me summarize.

Now serves as chief executive officer of the workforce solution board of flex.

She brings a deep regional expertise in workforce development, employee alignment, and economic mobility.

Her perspective will help ground our discussion and what it takes to build a workforce ecosystem that supports both residents and employers.

Thank you so much for being here today.

Thank you for being a part of this process.

Layla and her team took months to really develop and align the data that you're about to hear to the things that we knew would be important to you.

So thank you so much, and we really are pleased to have you here, and I welcome you forward.

We are such nice people.

Greetings from El Paso, and you're welcome, America.

And I'm gonna explain that in a minute.

So just so you'll know, um, the order of my slide deck, I made a few tweaks last night, so it might be a little out of the afternoon, City Council department heads.

I'm going to start with the primary question companies ask.

Do you have the workforce for my company?

What do you answer?

Absolutely.

Over 405 people are working, and about 17,000 are looking for work.

Over 86% have at least a high school diploma, and over 65% are of prime working age.

This question is the beginning of a new business relationship, and the decisions you make this week will determine how you answer that question in the future.

Are they ready for work?

Yes, absolutely.

Our workforce is ready for the jobs of the future.

But to create upward economic mobility at the city level, it must first succeed at the family level.

We have several groups of the workforce that can benefit from different types of jobs, but they need different types of support.

I also know that won't be the only question you are asked.

There is a lot to think about when trying to attract a company.

Today I will focus on the workforce and how it can be used to strengthen your priority pillars.

Are we ready for economic mobility?

Are we building systems that elevate people or keep circulating them at the bottom?

Economic mobility is the entire community's mindset to continually believe and invest in itself.

And I believe the community is becoming very aware of its chronic underemployment mindset.

And I believe the community is poised, ready, and demanding a change.

Good afternoon, City Council, City Manager Mack, and all city leadership.

I'm Layla Melendez, CEO of Workforce Solutions.

I am honored you asked me to speak to you today and to represent not only workforce solutions, but our entire workforce, the employed, the unemployed, and employers.

I congratulate you on the amount of work you have done so far.

You have spent months studying the landscape, listening to your constituents, and approaching this with good intention.

As a fellow citizen and taxpayer, I truly admire and appreciate your diligence.

I also want to thank Dion and Julie for their guidance and sharing with me the insight gathered so far.

It has helped me better understand what is important to you, and I am honored you consider workforce solutions as your thought partner.

For those who don't know me, I want to share just a little of myself.

I am a product of this community, of the education system, and of the tight-knit family values.

I started working when I was 16, and I've worked in many different industries, including transportation, international manufacturing trade, business advocacy, and local government.

It's great to see so many familiar faces, and thank you all for your dedication to our community.

I read the planning guide for today's session, and I can understand the sentiments and priorities shared by fellow citizens.

You are the subject matter experts in your fields, and I have tremendous respect for each of you.

I don't claim to know it all, but I do try to understand it all and share my ideas.

Workforce solutions is boots on the ground, creating jobs by understanding business needs and responding with a prepared workforce.

My remarks today come from my lived and learned experiences as a resident and as a community leader.

Today I am sharing data and ideas that I hope serve you well as you respond with the strategic plan.

Today we're gonna think big.

I'll cover a lot, so don't worry about taking notes.

I have provided a summary document for you.

So let's dive in.

Do we have the workforce?

Of course we do.

Many believe this is a great place to live and have a family, but not a great place to work and make a good living.

Many are skeptical we can have all of those things in one place, and they express it when they question the job, the jobs that do show up.

You don't have to raise your hand, but how many of you have been asked the whatabouts after you announce a company coming to El Paso?

That sounds great, but what all about all the DWIs and bad drivers?

Wait a minute.

What about our infrastructure?

Hmm, what about the wages?

Are they going to pay us a living wage?

Why this sentiment?

Don't they understand we need jobs?

Of course, the community understands the importance of jobs, but they don't want just any jobs that come at the expense of what is important to them.

These things that they ask about are what's important to them.

If we keep creating jobs without responding to what's important, the community remains resentful and feels unworthy.

As you've read, they want jobs and public safety and infrastructure and quality of life and economic mobility.

Yes, this work is hard because these pillars are not siloed.

They are interconnected, deep, and complex.

Now, the city is not responsible for all of it.

Part of the plan is rebinding the community that they are part of the plan.

As I read the guide, I thought of several ideas.

Challenges in one pillar can be tackled with assets from another.

When we align and connect these pillars, we are showing the community that it is worth investing in.

Do we want companies that are attracted to frustration, apathy, or desperation?

Or do we want companies that are attracted to pride, challenging work, self-worth, and investment?

One of the first things we promote is our public safety.

El Paso is one of the safest cities in the country.

It is something we are very proud of, and we must work hard to protect.

But although we have low-boding crimes, we have a high rate of driving crimes, DWIs, and drug tests, which negatively impact employment and erode community and employer confidence.

Transportation, logistics, and government contractors are a key labor sector.

These issues knock people out of the workforce, and those employers are rightfully frustrated because they lose out on revenue, spend a lot on turnover, and that slows their growth.

Self-destructive behavior comes from low self-esteem.

Well, when folks make these mistakes, workforce solutions is there to help them, working with the courts on jail aversion programs that prevent recidivism and a pathway back to work.

We hear from employers that need workers, especially in construction companies looking to bid on government contracts.

Is there an opportunity here for chances?

Chances for small companies to hire justice involved workers for small government contracts, and second chances for people to get back on their feet.

Now, write this number down.

There are 11,000 opportunity youth in El Paso today.

Opportunity youth are between 16 to 24 that are neither working nor in school.

If we don't re-engage them quickly, we risk finding them on crime stats.

Chief Basillas, that 11,000 number might be making you nervous, but let's talk about some opportunities to engage them.

These opportunity youth are in the Gen Z population.

Hold on, I know what you might want to say, but hear me out.

Through a program funded by you, last year we did a study on Gen Z, and we learned that their values are not much different from ours.

Gen Z absolutely wants to work and go to school, but they don't just want any job.

They seek jobs with purpose, jobs and make them feel like they are contributing to something.

The city is already a large employer of youth in parks and libraries.

Perhaps expand opportunities for youth to work in jobs like IT and maintaining streets and mediums.

Imagine how proud homeowners would feel if they saw young people working to improve the city landscape and public spaces.

And don't forget with PD, you recently hosted but didn't keep an opportunity youth marketing intern that brought in thousands of new followers to the police department Instagram account, bringing visibility, awareness, and interest in the police department.

Fortunately, you are hosting two other opportunity youth interns in accounting and psychology, and we thank you for that.

Workforce solutions can serve as your partner to provide more of these purposeful jobs for youth.

This is a priority population, so we need to work together to prevent crime by redirecting them back into education and into the workforce and enhance infrastructure at the same time.

The most important thing when hiring youth is to utilize flexible schedules for them to attend school.

We strongly urge employers to embrace education and not fear it by hiring tech school, college, and university students for jobs in their field of study and encourage them to contribute to continue their education.

This is done with different work schedules.

Rather than an inflexible works workplace, let's create opportunities for them to persist in education and succeed in life.

Speaking of infrastructure, you all know that well-planned infrastructure is the lifeline of a modern economy.

We can't expect a modern economy, a modern quality of life if we don't design modern infrastructure.

I believe we can design infrastructure to be efficient, complement public safety, economic development, and quality of life.

Well-lit surface streets, safe roads, connectivity, maintain parks, libraries, centers, and a well-run mass transit system create community pride and a sense of safety.

Maximizing a great asset, the mass transit system as an economic mobility resource is a great opportunity.

Partnering with companies to cost share bus fares for employees, especially those youth we just spoke about will increase ridership, provide safe mobility, remove transportation barriers, and reinforce the commitment to climate, something youth are especially passionate about.

Plus, it sets up youth writers to become confident adult writers.

Another opportunity between us is in sharing libraries and making them neighborhood job centers.

Thank you for affordably leasing the downtown library to us.

It serves this area very well.

We would like to extend to as many libraries as possible.

I know space is limited, but even one desk at a library will be closer in the neighborhoods of the people that need them versus driving out to one of our large centers.

Shorter driving or bus ride distances and efficient use of taxpayer dollars highlight infrastructure as a community asset and not a burden.

In your strategic planning guide, infill redevelopment and an anti-displacement policy are identified as strategies.

Maximizing infrastructure is going to be key as we face demographic winter.

In El Paso, our population growth has slowed over the last few years.

What's most concerning is what's happening across the country with sharp decline in birth rates.

Plus, El Paso has had chronic out migration too.

We are losing people from this community, and it will be hardest felt in the core and in aging neighborhoods.

Let's think about incentivizing companies to locate in the core and supporting people with housing affordability in the core as well to spur redevelopment, use infrastructure efficiently, and promote public safety.

Housing, affordability, health, and essential services all contribute to our quality of life.

We have many positive things happening here.

Median household income is on the rise.

El Paso was recently ranked as the most affordable housing market in the country, and homeownership is on the rise.

It's true that El Paso's cost of living is lower than our competing cities.

Although housing costs less, other things cost more.

The cost of living is just that, how much things cost.

We need to remember how much things cost in relation to wages.

Overall, we may have a slightly lower cost of living, but we cannot perpetuate the myth that because we sometimes have a lower cost of living, we can settle for low wage jobs because that's just not true.

There are other things happening that we need to be aware of.

There are indicators of the K-shaped economy.

Yes, some wages are increasing, but mostly at the top high income jobs.

Those folks have been able to absorb inflation.

This indicates that growth is rising faster in high income jobs than in low income jobs.

In other words, the gap is widening and the middle class are falling further behind.

It's evident by more single parent households, more women than men in poverty, and bad credit scores on the rise.

Wages are ultimately the key to economic mobility, but we'll talk about that in more detail in a few minutes.

We have an access to health care gap.

We need to address better access to doctors, nurses, radiology, and surgical techs.

We have a medical school, two nursing schools, and a dental school.

Healthcare practitioners have been our number one job posting for years.

We produce great talent here, critical talent, so why can't we build up our health care capacity?

We can't expect the community to be supportive of the medical and nursing schools, donate to them if they are not going to benefit from them.

Crossing the border for healthcare ends up being a solution.

But why though?

The point is that we have a medical professional factory here that we paid for, but we aren't keeping the talent they are producing.

Did you know that when medical residents are matched, they are asked where they want to go?

Why don't we offer them El Paso as an option?

Perhaps with a partial med school debt grant or a housing credit.

Let's start thinking how to incentivize people and not just companies to stay in El Paso.

A challenging and a challenge in improving our work health care pipeline is the fact that most of these professions are held by women.

Women are a large portion of several critical jobs, and the responsibility of child care often falls on the woman.

So it's not a matter of addressing just the education system, but also the child care system.

The childcare system is infrastructure working families need for economic mobility.

There are 9% less or 3,500 less women working, and child care is the main reason why they aren't working.

To add insult to injury, women earn significantly less than men in most occupations.

So it's that much harder to afford childcare.

And when it becomes too hard, women end up not working at all, which hurts our economy.

Child care is a complex issue that requires many structural and changes and committed advocacy.

Workforce solutions invests $55 million a year into supporting 6,500 working families.

Some of those parents are essential employees that work at the city of El Paso, El Paso County, UMC, the school districts, and many others.

We need to encourage employers to add child care to their benefits menu.

Employers can cost share child care just like they do health care and retirement.

Working parents will choose a child care benefit until their children are school aged.

After that, the benefits shift to retirement savings.

We are doing that ourselves at workforce solutions, and our young parents are very thankful and loyal.

On to education.

We have a great education system here.

We produce many high school and college graduates.

The education machine works.

But we all know people that graduate and leave.

They make us so proud somewhere else.

You're welcome, America.

I believe the best thing we can do for the parents who are paying property taxes and to the school and community college districts is to keep their talented, degreed children here, but in their own homes.

I know the city is not responsible for the education system, but you do have the influence as leaders to get their attention.

It's important for the school districts, community college, UTEP, and tech schools to get behind your strategic plan so they can align their curriculum.

Every dollar spent in our education system must produce ready workers in our key sectors, not Austin's, Houston's, or San Antonio's.

I'm happy to go on a roadshow with you and present to all the school boards.

Let's shift now and focus on the workforce.

Economic development planning done right democratizes opportunity.

Done hastily, it widens gaps.

Our unemployment rate is relatively low, but this isn't the only data point that matters.

The labor force participation rate counts those that are employed and those looking for work.

Our labor pool is smaller than our competing cities, meaning we have a lot of people that aren't even looking for work.

So why aren't people working?

Well, where does anyone start working?

At the bottom, right?

No one starts at the top.

We all start at the bottom and hopefully work our way up.

The strategic planning guide reflected younger residents and lower income residents report the highest levels of satisfaction.

That might be because they are happy to enter the workforce.

They went from being non-earners to earners, and they are glad to have a job.

This is how our workforce has been built over time.

Our workforce broken into four bands, ranked from highest skilled and highest paid to lowest skilled and lowest paid.

63% of our workforce are on the bottom half of this chart.

We have more people in the bottom than we should have, about 6% more.

They're working, but they are stuck there.

Why and how?

Wages.

Low wages are the reason and our biggest challenge because they hold us back from making significant progress.

The median county wage is the middle of everyone's income.

This measure eliminates the absolute highest and the absolute lowest.

Being excited about a company willing to pay the median county wage is being excited for more of the same, but not demanding better.

This sends the wrong message to those who want and can have better, so they end up finding better somewhere else.

The living wage reflects how much it costs to live here without the need for government assistance.

And that's the goal, right?

Tax makers, not tax takers.

We don't have to sell ourselves as low wages.

Using the living wage represents the true ability of our workforce, and it is still a better deal than our competing cities.

Starting at a living wage ensures no one falls behind.

The answer isn't moving to a living wage overnight.

That's not realistic.

But we need to ensure businesses that start here or move here factor in the living wage into their business model.

If their businesses cannot run without paying at least the living wage, it's not a sustainable model for their workers or for the city of Al Paso.

Earning less than the living wage will stick them in the red band and they will not be able to afford essentials like housing that pays property taxes.

They will stay stuck in poverty or leave, but both are bad for the city.

Why would we even incentivize and give them our resources to only perpetuate the problem?

We have to stop believing and talking like we are low-wage town.

We must become a living wage town.

It is possible to move people up.

Between 2022 and 24, we move 10,000 workers from the bottom to the top and increase their wages by 13%.

But, and this is a big but when people do move up, they move out.

They take their education and move to our competing cities.

Why?

Again, wages.

Because they can earn more in almost any job in another city than they will earn here.

It's not enough to move people up because even if they climb to the highest paying band in El Paso, they are still the lowest paid in the state.

This is where and when brain drain happens.

Again, you're welcome, America.

Creating jobs is important, absolutely, but it's the types of jobs that makes a difference.

When you receive an incentive application, map it to this chart.

Are they adding more to the red, blue, yellow, or green?

Adding more to the red without a plan to move them up, the plan that aligns education, affordability, and child care.

We are just adding more to the red, crowding it in and making it that much harder to get out.

And the red is already packed, it's oversaturated.

Remember that question: why aren't people working?

Because there's no room at the bottom and people aren't moving out to create space to enter.

I need to dispel another myth.

The myth that the red and blue are uneducated or unskilled.

On the contrary, a large portion are considered the hidden talent.

Over 94,000 workers in just these two bands have a high school diploma and some college.

They have the skills for blue and yellow jobs, but are stuck in the red.

Well, what happened to them?

They likely started working young, earning a low wage, started families, and that was enough to keep them from going back to school.

So they stopped out and kept working.

But now they can't stop working to go back to school.

These folks are middle skill ready, ready for upward mobility.

They are your selling points to the industries and companies we need for our future.

So it is in our future.

Fortunately, we are sitting on several opportunities that the city has already primed.

Advanced manufacturing provides a foothold in high skilled emerging technologies like the supply chain for data centers and aerospace.

Fort Bliss mission modernization is a great opportunity for local businesses to grow with government contracting, but the Department of Defense requires capability.

The city could support local emerging businesses with funding to obtain defense industry credentials.

The higher local plan is a great program, but I urge you to include payment terms in it.

Small businesses cannot wait more than 30 days to get paid.

AI is here and it's everywhere.

Teaching digital literacy NAI and everyday use and in every classroom will keep us on pace with the rest of the world.

And healthcare.

We have a tremendous opportunity to keep our health care workforce and improve our overall public health.

When a company looks to our city, it's because they know our assets will help them make money.

Their mission is not to create jobs.

Their mission is to make money.

And our workforce is the asset that helps them make money on day one.

The proof is in the companies that expand it way past their initial plans.

Our workforce has helped Amazon, Schneider Electric, ADP, and others expand.

I understand the need to be a business friendly community.

I'm not saying no incentives.

I'm saying strategic incentives.

When considering incentives, be ready with an ask every time.

And that ask needs to be something directly tied to what resources they will be using, whether it's our infrastructure, land, mobility, or workforce.

Incentives should not be used as welcome maths.

They should be used as levers.

Size them right, push and pull them until you get what we need.

Then study the economy again and modify your levers regularly and strategically.

We need several things to happen right now.

People to stay, businesses to expand, and businesses to create quality jobs.

When a company is seeking incentives, ask for things like benefits, which are already in the policy, a living wage on at least 60% of the workforce, and not the average of everyone, including the general manager.

Training funds or a training center to upskill, transportation services like discounted bus fares, a tuition assistance program, especially for stopouts that can pay for tuition and clears out old college fees.

These incentives are investments in homeowners, property taxpayers, and a stronger workforce.

If a company is going to create a lot of entry-level entry wage jobs, like for youth, that's a good thing.

Getting youth into the workforce and staying out of trouble is supporting our commitment to public safety.

Ask for an education center on site so that their employees can take classes at the same location.

Your incentives will pay for that new training center and also foster education.

Whatever you ask for is to serve the future employee, not the new hire, but the person that new hire will become in two to four years.

What will that person need?

That is your ask.

What about small companies?

We hear a lot from small companies asking for financial support and frustrated they aren't considered for incentives because they are not adding to the property tax base.

Let me introduce you to an example.

There is a small biotechnology company located at the MCA Cardwell building.

Small company with eight employees, not making a large capital investment.

Their economic impact analysis shows they will return to the local economy 3.6 million in their first year from compensation, sales, indirect induced and property taxes.

We are working with this company to hire UTEP and Texas Tech bioresearch engineers, likely between the ages of 25 and 35, but don't have their own homes yet.

Using this biotech company for Parks Turf, there's that higher El Paso program, is a great opportunity to rewrite the narrative about El Paso's role in advanced research and emerging industries.

At a time of global competitiveness, talent retention matters more than ever.

This company is getting calls from New Mexico.

Don't let this one get away.

How can we keep this talent here?

How about a housing starter fund?

A creative incentive for this company is to support them by helping them keep their employees here.

Funds that can be can be used towards their first home closing costs, or a little more if they buy a fixer upper in the core.

There's redevelopment.

Now you're planting roots, helping affordability, creating infill, keeping our talent, earning good wages, and yes, growing property taxes.

It's a good thing to invest in El Paso.

Every tax dollar you spend is an investment in us first.

The best parks, the best streets, the best services.

You are just like investment fund managers.

You are making the best decisions to grow our tax dollars and secure our future.

Share the strategic plan, the investment plan with the community regularly.

Transparency is tremendously important.

And the public investment will serve as a catalyst for private investment.

For every one dollar of public investment, private investment can follow by 1.6 to $2.

Where the city leads, the private sector will follow.

Our underemployment mindset requires healing.

It wasn't created overnight, and it's not going to change overnight.

We know this has spanned many years, and despite well-intentions of leaders past, we have not been able to break it.

You have inherited their legacy, but will yours be the living wage legacy.

We've all heard how companies lose money when employees are not engaged.

They are not engaged because they don't feel valued or a part of the organization.

Guess what is happening to El Paso turnover?

If citizens are not hearing positive things, they hear only negative things.

We need to remind this community we are worthy and capable of living wage quality jobs.

Negativity spreads, but positivity grows.

Show us we are worth investing in, and we'll want to start to believe it.

What do we want?

We want to be your think tank and your thought partner.

But know that we won't come alone at this.

We are research partners with the El Paso Community Foundation and the Hunt Institute and share our research capabilities.

Use us to study the community and the economy and report back to you regularly, refresh the plan and keep it current and relevant.

We aren't claiming to have all the answers, but rather all the questions.

When you are speaking to a company, think of workforce solutions to help you question storm and come up with a list of questions to ask the company to help you make the best decision.

El Paso has all the talent and resources to take care of itself.

We are fortunate to have such a strong community.

Let's not rely on fortune, but on a strategy to align and level up.

As stated in the guide, residents want to feel that opportunity is for them, not happening around them.

Share the strategic plan with citizens, neighborhood associations, school districts, higher education, community organizations, Fort Bliss, the medical school, the chambers of commerce, everyone, and hold us accountable to our goals and ask if our plans align with yours.

You have the authority to lead us and ask us to contribute our resources towards the community plan.

Give the community action items.

We will get in line and push forward with you.

That's what we signed up for.

On behalf of the staff and board of directors, two of who are with me today, we are tremendously honored to speak with you today.

Thank you.

Let's get into some questions.

Thank you.

I probably don't need my thank you, Leila, for the presentation.

Um, you just gave at least me some great questions to follow through as we give some of these incentive agreements.

It's a great guide.

And certainly have given us a lot of information.

I'm also very, very interested in the 11,000 opportunity you.

Yes, you know, in Spanish, they're called NIME's.

Ni trabajan, ni estudia.

They don't work and they don't study.

Mini's.

And so that is also such a great problem in making going to the problem I can guess around the world.

That's um a group that I'm certainly going to be looking looking at in our district.

And thank you again for thinking.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you.

In regards to meeting with the school districts, have you met with them already?

We do.

So we actually uh one of our employees uh were youth manager, uh, is a member of the career and technical education committee.

So all of the school districts have career and technical education committees, and we are members of that.

Um it's been a few years, and we've gone to present our hot jobs and our target sectors to the school boards.

Um it's it's uh tremendously difficult.

There's been a lot of turnover open at the school districts for some time, but uh yes, we have, but it's we want to do that regularly and all the time.

So if anybody wishes to join us, the invitation is in.

Have they been receptive?

Um they they're they're yes, they they appreciate the information, they're very receptive.

Um, but I think that so yes, they do appreciate you know what we provide.

What we need to just figure out is how to be strategic, right, amongst all of the school districts because we have so many school districts, we have a lot of need, but what we need to do is not have not have the school districts compete versus figure out which school district is going to teach what, and then divvy up the work.

Amongst all of the school districts, because we have so many school districts, we have a lot of need, but what we need to do is not have not have the school districts compete versus figure out which school district is going to teach what, and then divvy up the work.

And that is that that's ultimately what we what we want.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi.

Hi, Leila.

Thanks for the presentation.

I think it's great.

You touched on a point that I've been uh thinking about lately.

I've brought it up to the city manager, I know through economic development as well, which is this incentive for the fixer uppers in the core of our city.

Um I've spoken to some of my constituents.

I have some areas in my district that have very old homes that is very costly for people to purchase and basically redo electricity, plumbing, everything else to get it back up to code, plus the cost and time of uh building something in the core of our city.

And I know that there are many areas like this all over our city.

So can you speak a little bit more about that?

Because that's something I'm very interested in.

Sure.

So I'll actually tell you my story.

I moved back into the 79915 um zip code.

That's where I grew up.

I grew up near Lionel Forthy Park.

Um, and I when I um you know, when I was young, I wanted to have my own home and I purchased in the 79936 Hanks neighborhood.

So I had my family and I was there for many years.

My mother still lives in the home that uh I grew up in.

But the American dream of having your own home for me, that changed when I became an empty nester.

Um so I wanted you know to downsize a little bit.

But I I made the decision to move closer into my neighborhood, which a lot of the people that I grew up with moved out.

So I bought a home uh right up the street from my mother's house, and I fixed it up.

It took me a year to fix it up.

Um but now it's like energy efficient, right?

Which is uh which is awesome.

So that I and being back in the neighborhood, um, back in the park that I grew up in, back in a very familiar neighborhood, closer to work, um utilizing that information.

I know it probably costs cheaper for the city to serve me where I am now than I was in the far far east, right?

Um you know, a lot of benefit has come from uh being in the core and back in my neighborhood.

So I think encouraging that, um, especially for um individuals like me that maybe our lives are changing a little bit, um wanting to be closer, closer into the core, closer to work, closer to our families might be a benefit.

Um so I I think there's a lot of creativity that we can have there.

Yes, sir.

Okay.

Bottom line is that correct economic development.

For 15 years, and your idea that you stated about uh the economic development people asking is um the companies to participate in community funds is a very valid one that we had in Phoenix when companies came in and they wanted to apply for a new market tax credit program, we would ask them in exchange for that, we're gonna get this.

At the end of the day, we ended up with a million dollar scholarship fund for low-income people.

And and it was it's only about asking.

If you don't ask, you don't know if you're gonna get it.

You can do that for other programs as well, but you have to ask.

That was only my only point.

Thank you, sir.

Leila, I want to thank you.

This is Ivaninho, District 5 City Representative.

Yes, sir.

Um, you know, even when we started our budget process, we talked about what people don't know, what they know, and the experience's experience of government on the way to school, at the roads, at their parks.

One thing that really stood out, I took a lot of notes when you were speaking when you mentioned where the city leads the private sector will follow.

And um really taking consideration once we finalize our strategic plan and really building those, you know, collaborative efforts and communication.

Further lines of communication to empower the private sector or empower all other government organizations to really highlight old Paso and and not work in silos is at least extremely important for me.

Um, because when we're more work we're we're even more powerful, right?

So I wanted to thank you for for your presentation, your time.

And same I originate with my colleagues said, I'm gonna have a lot of questions even further when it comes to uh you know incentive policy that I know that stag is working on, and thank you for your work.

Right, thank you.

Hi, hello.

Hi.

Um thank you for this presentation.

is at least extremely important for me um because when we're more we're we're we're even more powerful right so I wanted to thank you for for your presentation your time and same I originally with my colleagues said I'm gonna have a lot of questions even further when it comes to uh you know incentive policy that I know that stag is working on and thank you for your work all right thank you hello hi um thank you for this presentation it's insightful there's a lot of data really appreciate how much data you have I have a lot more if you want some okay um but I wanted to focus a little bit on the 11,000 youth um 16 and 24 and you are kind of saying Gen Z is not that different um from millennials Gen X et cetera because the internet has made us think that they are right um but they're looking for quality jobs and so out of the data that you collected do you know what kind of industries they're looking at in terms of what a quality job looks like for them I I don't think it's um they're necessarily following a specific industry or industries the job itself what experience matters to them being a part of that um moment giving the like g giving them trust in doing that job we'll use the example of the police department that marketing intern is a opportunity youth so we have this opportunity program and we found this person she was a social media whiz and so when placed at the police department the police department entrusted her with the social media account like ugh you know um she knew exactly what to do with it and I think that that was really helpful for for her in particular and the others that we're placing in other jobs is they want to be able to contribute to that job not just do the task and just here do this they want to be a part of it.

So it's not necessarily any specific industry.

We are placing young people uh students so I want to just uh opportunity youths sometimes that number goes up sometimes it goes down because sometimes I work sometimes I don't sometimes I go to school sometimes I stop um so we try to identify those um uh opportunity youth and get them back into work or school um and when we do place them we place them in engineering jobs in um healthcare research clinicals so it's really anywhere that that we can find them an opportunity but they like to feel like they are learning something and actually contributing to something and that's what makes the difference.

And and that makes a lot of sense and I appreciate you clarifying that and I guess the second thing that I wanted to mention was I I think it's a great idea to go to the school boards and do that on a regular basis but then I'm also thinking how can we get you in front of more youth right and right now we're having this joint meeting with the youth advisory board of city council so is there capacity that you have to go before the youth advisory board to kind of hear directly from them on a lot of the work that you're doing.

Absolutely absolutely we love to do that.

Okay thank you so much one more stick that you guys speak to I have another question on slide uh Cynthia from district four Cynthia Boyartejo on page 29 of the slideshow uh presentation that is it the hidden talent what is hidden talent you mentioned there's 94 approximately 94000 residents that have some college education yes and and then we're looking at the at the lower end here where on the red how does that compare to the rest of the state um I have that data off the top of my head I I couldn't tell you what that number is um what I can what here there was one chart that shows overall the percentage so here on this one you can see the red band in El Paso is 31.1 and in Texas it's 26.3 but what that how many of those in Texas have a high school diploma that I I don't have with me but I do have it.

Okay I'm curious to know how we rate with the rest of Texas if our wages are lower but we still have the same or if not more educated individuals.

Okay thank you okay thank you all thank you all for I'm sorry Layla I have one more thing sorry sorry one sure uh sure so actually we've done this uh we've we run the child care uh program but we are partners with uh early matters al Paso and a part which is a uh group that we partner also with with the community foundation and so we've done quite a bit of research and studies on this and are trying to find ways for employers to contribute to that so it stemmed from employers knowing that child care is costly and it's an issue but they don't want to get into the child care space you know like opening up a child care center anywhere hold the other world it's it's not as easy as it sounds so we've said well why don't you just um you know you're you're already sharing a portion of health benefits or retirement benefits offer this as an option so it becomes just on their menu of benefits right so an employee will pick so many um so many benefits um and as I mentioned the young parents they're not thinking about retirement when they've got critical needs like child care so they absolutely will take that benefit first and it ends up being the same dollar amount right what

So we've said, well, why don't you just um you know you're you're already sharing a portion of health benefits or retirement benefits, offer this as an option.

So it becomes just on their menu of benefits, right?

So an employee will pick so many um so many benefits.

Um, and as I mentioned, the young parents, they're not thinking about retirement when they've got critical needs like child care.

So they absolutely will take that benefit first, and it ends up being the same dollar amount, right?

What what the employer would have contributed to to retirement is what they're contributing to child care.

So it's not paying for all of it, but a call any help from the employer for that is a is a big move and a strategic move for employers because those are loyal employees.

And they're able to shift their enrollment between the different benefit programs over time.

So I think that yeah, like once you commit to the child care, I would say just an art, it's at least a year, right?

Um, at least a year, and then the next open enrollment, they can move that back for sure.

Okay, thank you.

All right.

Yes, man.

Hi, my name's Ariana.

I'm the district representative for the youth advisory board.

And I just wanted to say a lot of us mentioned how your research was very extensive, but I wanted to know how your youth engagement was for that data.

Did you conduct surveys or interviews?

How did you get that data?

The 11,000 number?

That related directly to the youth, yes.

Oh, the the Gen Z survey?

Yes.

Oh, yeah.

So we um uh received a uh through one of the uh contracts from the city of El Paso, we worked with a local consulting company and we did have a lot of focus groups, and um we did a survey.

I think we probably surveyed over a thousand local youth, and we had focus groups, virtual town halls over a span of several months, and they collected all of that data, and then we um we we put this into into a report.

So the report is on our website, borderplexjobs.com, and you can see that report in totality.

And when we were speaking to youth, uh back to what um uh the representative was mentioning earlier is this perception that you know um there's you know there's difference in values or different than in desires, but what we learned is that's not the case.

Like they do want to work and they do have dreams to going to school and having careers.

Um, they just want to to um you know be let in.

The the thing that is really important for our youth program is the flexible schedules.

We have to encourage youth to keep going to school.

I worked when I was 16 and I started work at 4 p.m.

Working from 4 p.m.

to 8 p.m., going home, sleeping, going back to school, made all the difference because I was one of the few high school seniors that graduated with a full-time job um the day after, right?

Those are big big differences, and so we really need to encourage employers to create these opportunities and give them the flexibility to continue with their school.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Is it on?

Yeah.

Um, I'm sorry.

My name is Anatolavera.

I'm representing the mayor for the youth advisory board.

Um, I guess my question was how do you all reach out to like younger people?

Because I know that if I wasn't in this room right now, I wouldn't know any of this data.

I wouldn't have any way to even think about these questions that are being asked here.

So I know that my peers have no idea what's going on.

And the thing is that in high school, you think like, oh, okay, I can just silly around, but then you're thrown into the workforce and you don't have any idea what's going on in your city or the things, the questions that are really crucial that you need to understand.

So how do you all reach out to them?

I'm gonna be really honest.

This is you are the hardest folks to find because you're not looking for us, right?

You're not going into a government office or a public office, you know.

So it is really hard to first find opportunity youth and youth uh without you thinking like we're your parents and we're gonna tell you what to do.

That's the challenge that we have.

So this moment and this opportunity, everybody in this room, wherever you all go, that's where we need to show up.

I don't need for you to come to me.

I need to go to where you are.

So tell me where you are, and I'll go there versus you finding me.

I don't need to find you, right?

I need to find you.

You don't need to find me.

So where do you all go?

So if if you're at rec centers, if you're at libraries or wherever you are, that's where we need to go.

Do you all have a social media page?

Yes, we do.

Who runs it?

Oh, somebody on our staff.

Yeah.

How old are they?

Um good question.

He is a UTEP student.

I don't know how old he is, but he isn't he is a student and he works protect.

Okay, because one thing I'll tell you for like anyone who's in this room is that like a lot of apps or businesses, they'll have social media accounts and they'll have like little joke videos.

But it's really information.

You're like, oh, I didn't know that.

And I think if you know, like the city of El Paso, I feel like there's a lot of things that El Paso has that um again, younger people aren't really aware of because they don't come to these meetings, they don't seek out this information.

They don't seek out this information.

But um yeah, I think you could really use social media to absolutely put it out there.

And we do that on uh like purposeful, right?

We have this young person can speak to young people.

So he knows how you all are speaking.

I'm not gonna be good.

Um I'll say, like, look at this chart and nobody sees it.

Um so yes, absolutely.

But but if I can hear from you all and you tell me where to find you, I will go to you.

Okay.

Okay.

All right.

Thank you.

All right, thank you all.

Yes, oh, one more.

Sorry, I had one more question.

My name is Aliana Cunha.

I represent District Five for the Youth Advisory Board.

Um, I just wanted to ask what incentives or I guess programs you have that are targeting our youth specifically.

I know that you're having programs who are career ready, people that are have just gone out of college, or maybe they've just gotten their GED.

But in terms of like the outreach that she was talking about, how are you targeting that maybe at the high school level?

Yeah, so we we work with our high schools and uh we we work with uh youth that are not just opportunity youth, but they might be in school um in in school students.

So what we do is we pay um we identify jobs in that field of study, or to provide even work experience.

There may be some opportunities that have never worked before, and you know the first thing we do is we've got to get them at least a high school diploma.

We work with our literacy partners on that, but then we find them employment and we pay the wages.

So we work at an employer, an employer that's wor willing to work on that schedule, and we pay the living wage for that person for uh a few months to get them experience, get them back into school and get them back into the system.

So we actually provide the jobs, money, wages.

Okay.

Thank you all so much.

This is a great day.

Have a great session.

All right.

All right, so I'm gonna move us over to the next section, community perspectives.

And so we'll be covering uh first and foremost to kick off the section in keeping with our greetings from El Paso.

We thought it was critically important to hear from each of our representatives your postcard.

You may have noticed as you walked in the gallery wall that also reflects um your sentiment as well as feedback that we collected from the districts, but I'm gonna turn it over to, and you're welcome to either come up to the podium or from the table, recite your postcard.

But we thought it was critically important to start with this message and mindset first, and then we'll shift into some more data that we want to ensure that we share.

But with that, uh want to welcome uh Mayor Protect to kick this off for us.

Good afternoon.

Thank you.

So my name Alejandra Chavez, I represent District One very proudly.

Why I choose to be here?

I choose to be here because I believe change is possible.

I want to turn doubt into hope and trust, complacency into progress, and hesitation into action.

We need to have a bold vision and be future focused so that the decisions we make positively impact our community for generations to come.

I believe this can be done through thoughtful investment and responsible planning.

What I want most for El Paso is I want it to, I want El Paso.

What I want most for El Paso is sustained investment in our future that creates opportunity for our youth, strengthens our public spaces, and delivers both quality of life and safety for every resident.

It means leading with accountability, making thoughtful decisions that respect taxpayer dollars, and ensuring our neighborhoods, schools, and shared spaces reflect the pride we have in our community and the standards we expect for our families.

If I were writing the story of El Paso today, it would say this is a city that shows up for one another, believes in its future, and never stops working to make life better for the next generation.

It would say this is a community built on grit, kindness, and the determination to keep moving forward together.

Thank you.

And so I kind of wanted to talk a little bit about Layla's presentation because her slide that said You're welcome, America, really hit me hard because I have really worked my entire career in public service in many different roles toward staying here in El Paso and working to bring people back that want to be here but can't be here.

And so I've been in El Paso my entire life.

I have never left.

This is my home.

I did all of my education here.

I've done my whole professional career here.

So any time that I can talk to an expat, I'm always kind of saying, let's let's bring you back to El Paso.

I know you want to be there.

What can I do to help in that sense?

And so in that sense, we have a border community.

It is so unique.

It is so different from any other place in the world.

We have incredible people, culture, language, language is really important.

And we get to celebrate that on a daily basis here in our border community.

And we need to continue providing more opportunities, and I want to work toward doing that and seeing true progress in our city.

What I want most for El Paso is the city of El Paso receiving a UNICEF child friendly city designation.

That's something we started at the last strategic planning session two years ago.

I had been on council for a few days at that point.

And in November, we were awarded a pilot, and over the next two years, we're working to make that a reality.

And we restarted the youth advisory board last year.

It's really nice to see progress from the last strategic planning session to today that we are having a joint meeting with the youth advisory board, and I think we should all celebrate that.

Overall, I think we need to have youth voice in everything that we're doing.

We need to have opportunities for our youth.

But at the same time, we also need to figure out streets, right?

Increase quality of life through our neighborhoods.

We need adequate accessible parks and effective public transportation.

So that's really important.

But I think if we are diligent and intentional, we could get all of that done and see that for El Paso.

If I were writing the Story El Paso today, I would tell people that it's not just El Paso, it's Ciudad Juarez, it's Las Cruces, and then together we're all a community of over two million people, and that's important.

It unites us as one community.

We're continually always talking about the border, and the border extends across those three states, those three cities, those two countries, and it's all one community, right?

And so that's really important.

We need a better El Paso because no other community has what we have: a place where nations, families, cultures, and community come together to make a place uniquely situated to handle adversity and nurture growth.

In community, we can achieve new heights and improve our beloved city day by day.

Thank you.

So District Four is northeast from Hundo Pass to Railroad, all the way to the state line.

And why I choose to be here, I have a very similar story to Leila.

I actually moved back to my community.

I got married, moved away, and raised my children, and when my husband and I became empty nesters, decided to move back to my district with family and the beautiful mountains.

So why I choose to be here.

Family is central to our way of life, often extending to close families and colleagues, and grounded in deep respect for elders and our community.

Those who experience El Paso are drawn to the drawn to the mountains, the people, our culture, and the sense of belonging because it feels like coming home.

Thank you.

Good afternoon, everyone.

My name is Ivan Iño.

I am the District 5 City representative.

It's an honor to be here with all of you.

And I know I've been counting down the days for us to work on a comprehensive strategic plan with this council and the community all together.

Thank you, Ms.

Mack, Julie, I may.

So greetings from District 5 from Representative Ivaninho.

Why I chose to be here.

I chose to be here because El Paso is a community that raised me and shaped me, my sense of purpose.

The city taught me resilience, responsibility, and the importance of showing up for others.

I'm here because I believe El Paso's best days are ahead, and because leadership means investing your energy where your roots and your values run deepest.

What I want most for El Paso is what I want most for El Paso is a city that fully believes in its own potential and acts on it.

A city that delivers strong services, protects affordability, and creates real pathways for people to build stable, successful lives.

I want El Paso to grow with intention, ensuring that progress strengthens neighborhoods, supports families, and expands opportunities for everyone.

If I were writing the story of El Paso today, it would say El Paso is shaping its next chapter with intention, rooted in community, driven by results, and focus on building systems that serve its people effectively every day.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

I'm the representative for District 6.

And thank you for everyone that has to be here.

But more importantly, thank you for all the public that's here that time in their schedule to come join us and have their input taken in Toso.

You know, if um why I chose to be here.

Having the opportunity to live in other communities.

I've always been drawn back to El Paso.

And one of the most important things to me is that my children have the opportunity to come back to El Paso.

And that's one of the reasons that I ran for the seat.

El Paso's culture, this is preaching to the choir is like no other.

This is the only place where you can look out and see three states, two counties, but really all one community.

And my love for the community is what inspired me to represent, run, and serve in District 6.

What I most, what I want most for El Paso is what I want most for El Paso is a city where opportunity is not determined by zip codes, where every family has access to good jobs, Layla's data, a safe neighborhood, parks, and of course, there's a theme here, safe streets.

If I were writing the story of El Paso today, I would say El Paso is a story of great culture, great people, great food, you can tell by my waistline.

When challenges arise, we all unite and we become El Paso strong.

The last thing I'll leave you with is we we need the support in a and I one of the phrases I love most that Mayor Johnson uses is El Paso is open for business.

And that's what's going to take us to the next level.

Thank you very much.

So greetings from District 7.

Why I chose to be here, why I choose to be here.

El Paso is my home, and I've had the privilege of living in District 7 for 69 years.

My husband, I selected this area based on my career and the excellent schools available for our children.

District 7 is filled with great diversity from the upscale homes in Eastridge and Desert Ridge to the 100-year-old homes in the Mission Valley.

It is a district that serves families.

Our parts are very well maintained, and they're used continuously to serve as a gathering place for sports leagues and families.

Our two libraries are centers for citizens of all ages to learn, share, and prosper.

District 7 has the benefit of hosting numerous top restaurants, including establishments with a history of more than 50 years.

We are blessed to have the new alongside the rich historical gyms.

From the oldest active mission in the state of Texas to the newest buildings, we're a proud community that we share alongside the Pueblo del Sur tribal nation.

We are District 7.

And what I want most for El Paso is I want a community that reflects the standards of our district 2026 strategic plan, which mayor was fortunate to have attended and seen the work along with our city manager, a three month work where our district put our own strategic plan in place.

And this is what it covers.

A secure environment for all residents, an environment that fosters local businesses, affordable and attainable housing that meets residents' needs, equitable education support for all students that includes repurposing closed schools to benefit the community, improved lighting and safety on the independence hike and bike trail, and the Roseway Street Project, and preservation of historic buildings, canal systems, and acequias.

And if I were writing the story of El Paso today, it would say we are a city rooted in history that has overcome so many obstacles, yet we have remained strong, resilient, and friendly to our neighbors.

Our future is bright as long as we continue to focus on the needs of our residents and maintain our legendary status as great hosts.

Thank you.

Hello everyone.

Greetings from District 8.

Literally, welcome to District 8 here in beautiful downtown El Paso.

Why I choose to be here.

El Paso is a city shaped by one of the things that I value most: connection.

Connection among and across neighborhoods, cultures, and a border that is not just talked about but lived every day is what has always driven El Paso forward.

We're a border community that understands resilience, compassion, and interdependence.

El Paso instilled those values in me, and to stay true to them, I feel the responsibility to give something back.

That's why I choose to be here.

What I want most for El Paso is for us to be a city where success is shared and growth is thoughtful.

That means investing in people in neighborhoods, furnishing residents with promising opportunities, and preparing them to seize those opportunities.

Connecting them to robust services and planning for the future in a way that's inclusive and sustainable.

I want El Paso to progress without losing what makes it special.

Our famous friendliness, strong communities, affordability, and a sense that everyone belongs and has a true stake in where we're headed.

If I were writing the story of El Paso today, it would say that we are a city rooted in our historical identity and increasingly intentional about our choices.

It would tell the story of a border community shaped by quiet resilience and shared endeavor, where people show up for one another and are pushing for more care and deliberation in how decisions are made.

It would reflect a city that understands its past, values its people, and is deciding in real time, really here in this room today in many ways, what kind of future it wants.

And it would be a story of progress measured not just by what we build, but by who we bring along as we write our next chapter with integrity, foresight, and respect for the place and the people who call it home.

Thanks.

Good afternoon.

There we go.

Thank Chris, you could have set it up a little bit better for me.

Kidding Chris.

Good afternoon.

My name is Diana Maldonado Rocha.

I'm the representative for District Three.

As you can see, my postcard is really short, so I will uh just read it to you.

But uh why I chose to be here, and it's very simple as we started the strategic plan with uh with Julie and with Amy last year, last year.

It was uh really interesting to see what came forward through all of the not only mine and my office's views, but what took place in our community meetings, and it's all really centered in service.

So I believe that my choice to be here is directly reflected by my passion to serve my community.

What I want most for El Paso is to thrive through meaningful and sustainable economic development.

I want a community that takes pride in our Sun City and all it has to offer.

Most of all, I want to showcase the beauty, talent, and potential of our people and our hometown.

And if I were writing the story of El Paso today, it would say in a city of almost 700,000 people, we are a city that is rich in culture, talent, and possibility.

We are a resilient border community that prides itself on turning challenges into opportunities.

Our next chapter is about believing in ourselves and investing in our people.

It is a story about building a community that is here for all the generations to come.

Thank you.

Right.

So thank you so much for sharing those personal reflections.

Um, we saw that there was a lot of thought and meaning that you all put into sharing that with us.

And so before we jumped right into the data, we thought it was important to start with heart, right?

Because we're gonna we're about to cover a lot of information, and I want to make sure that we keep that data-informed culture that focuses not just on data, but also context, lived experiences, reflections to really set the tone for community perspectives.

So let's jump right in.

I'm Juliana Baldon Munoz.

Um, April marks my 20th year in public service.

So very excited to be with all of you in this convening as I look at our our youth advisory board members, first time we've ever done a joint meeting.

So really proud that you all are here and that you're participating in this experience with us.

Why does it matter?

It matters because it helps ensure that we focus our efforts.

And it is, in fact, an art, right?

While we're gonna be talking about a lot of data and a lot of um operational um requirements in the end, it's that art of selecting where to focus.

And it ensures that we have a plan of action that as operators becomes our work plan.

So your guidance, your vision, the conversations throughout this experience will ensure that we're aligned, especially as we get ready for the budget development process and resources as well.

So it's ensuring we have that alignment.

Um we shared this with you all recently, so I won't get into a lot of detail, but we're very proud of redesigning this process completely.

And so over the last few months, a lot of it has been uh an intentional effort to ensure that we're not just capturing data, that we're really being mindful about what is the insight, and how does that insight then inform the strategies that you all will be developing as we move into the second day?

So we focused on that.

We didn't shy away from the areas with the highest dissatisfaction.

We saw that as an area of opportunity and an opportunity to really focus our efforts.

Um, there are some new uh we have the pro the pillar profiles that we're gonna review tomorrow, as well as some personas.

There's a repository.

These are all new improvements that were brought into this cycle, and we ensure that this helps to set the tone for the new program-based budgeting approach that our city manager referred to earlier today.

And this is just the cycle at a glance, right?

A quick recap.

Um, all of those various data points that we're gonna go over in just a bit, and data dialogue conversations, it started with that assessment phase, and that was really the heavy lift over the last few months, ensuring that we were able to look at multiple varieties of methods.

And while we understand nothing will ever be exhaustive, you know, we can't have a direct connect to every single resident in the El Paso, but we can certainly endeavor to ensure that we use multiple methods and that we can take a collective look, and that the conversation doesn't stop here.

That this is an ongoing discussion as we move through the phases of the plan.

But we are very much at the convening, which is something we've been working towards for the last several months, and so excited to be at this point in the process where all of those conversations come into focus.

And so we did undertake a pretty expansive environmental scan, and this just reflects that.

The bubbles, a meet your bubbles.

So, yes, we have here captured in your guide, a quick overview of all of the various different types of methods, mostly qualitative, right, that we utilized in order to gain a pulse of what keeps surfacing to the top as the areas that we need to really zero in on as we talk about that art of focusing our efforts that I talked about, the strategic thinking that ties it all together.

So everything from the strategic planning conversations that started this process with all of you, then shifting into resident conversations.

Each one of our operators, directors also participated in initial action planning for key strategic priorities to ensure we have a strategic outlook and also a close uh view on our operations outlook as well.

And then we included also a new repository on all the large community-wide engagement efforts that have really resulted in a lot of heavy lifting across departments to ensure that those priorities and those conversations also are incorporated into this thought process.

I'm gonna dig into the new community survey in the next slide, so I won't I won't get into additional detail there, but very happy that the youth advisory board will be here to share in their own words that initial strategy session that we had with them.

And so I'll leave it to them to share with with you what came out of that conversation.

This is just a visual snapshot, right?

That initial conversation in September that helped set the initial tone of what are those key priorities when we're considering the short-term planning horizon, two years.

And so this was our initial visual visualization.

But then what we found is as we started to look at where does alignment exist?

It began to tell the story of possible pillars, right?

And so that's new to our strategic planning process this year, and we saw that there was a good amount of alignment as that starting point.

But what did the additional insights tell us in terms of our resident conversations?

Um, the postcard, right?

That was one activity that we had included in our strategic planning sessions, and we saw that our residents really took to that.

There was um much of what you heard earlier today by the representatives as well, a lot of pride, a lot of connection, connection, uh, Rebecca Nales aligned in a lot of these key points that came up.

And so that really helped to frame out what this session was going to be.

And what I will say is that the takeaway is that it's very hopeful, even though there's recognition that there are areas we need to improve, it takes courage to think strategically, right?

When you talk about strategic planning, it's that optimism for a future state.

And so now it's what are we going to do to ensure that we're able to continue to grow on that pride, on that hope, on that connection and all the various things that we love about our community.

Speaking of loving our community, this is a visualization of put this one in for you, Dr.

Ocevedo, the word clouds, just to ensure we have a way to gather all of these hundreds and hundreds of data points.

But what did it tell us at a super high level, zoomed out, strong sense of community and family?

Sounds familiar, right?

We heard quite a bit of that earlier.

Um, but also safety, calm, and stability, tranquility kept coming up.

And so I even asked Amy as we were shifting through the data.

Did tranquility really come up quite often, like that exact word?

And sure enough, when we went back and forth, that was something that surfaced as well.

Um, so that sense of calmness and all of these elements that you see depicted here are some of the things that our residents, and I think all of us, right, can agree to.

But then what would we change most?

Because we do need to have a clear line of sight of the things that we need to actively be working on improving.

And so opportunity right in the middle, and you see economic stability and affordability really centered, and that was one of the reasons why, as we went through this assessment phase, we thought it was so important to have Layla come in and give the presentation that she gave to talk about that people piece and how that translates into possible right strategic opportunities and areas of focus.

And yes, streets continues to be a top resident request, and we'll see more of that in the data.

But what we saw, the takeaway is whether we were, you know, like we were looking at it from a flair perspective or a focus perspective, there was really good alignment and consensus around what the data was beginning to tell us.

All right, so new community survey approach.

So we have talked about this a little bit for this cycle.

We made also a couple of improvements.

We're going to be undertaking this approach on an annual basis.

And so we were able to get a thousand and seventy-nine validated responses, meaning we were able to use utilize the responses that provided or yielded a representative representative of our community demographics.

And so some questions about methodology just to address that up front.

So in moving over to a digital type of platform where an ad is depicted on this picture here was issued out, concerns about what will that mean for our older residents, right?

That may or may not have access.

Is that a question?

Or you know, just having concerns about whether this was going to cause issues with getting responses for everything from like our local income or lower income individuals as well as our older individuals as well.

And what we found in this approach is that they were actually overrepresented.

So we're using weighted responses to make sure that's represented.

And in both categories, both lower income individuals and older adults, which tends to be a concern about using an approach that's so digitally focused, they actually came in overrepresented, which was which had to be weighed down in order to ensure that it was representative.

So it what it signaled to us is that this approach was helpful and successful in ensuring that we captured um voices throughout our community.

All right, so I'm gonna jump right in to three strategic strengths and three areas of opportunity that surfaced.

Um, certainly there was others that surfaced in the comprehensive report, but we're gonna zoom in uh for a bit for purposes of this conversation.

Now, as you see the headline here, 60% are satisfied with their quality of life, and you may think, okay, what does that mean?

Does that mean we're just slightly above average?

What does that look like?

And so, in considering about 160 cities as part of the benchmarking data that we had available, that is slightly higher, right?

1%, but I think to me, what really stands out on this slide is only 11% are providing negative ratings of all residents that surface.

So that is an opportunity to really look at how do we continue to grow that visibility of overall quality of life, but it is considered a strategic strength when we look at responses, um, favorable responses and rating quality of life.

And um, and it was highest among our young adults, the 18 to 34.

So, going back to I think some of what Leila shared earlier and why we think it's so important to continue to incorporate the youth perspective, um, we're seeing that also reflected in different areas throughout the data.

As we move into another key strategic strength, um, overall sense of safety.

So, this is eight points above the cohort average.

Um, and what we found to be very interesting as well, the call-out here is that whereas in the previous quality of life, you saw our younger residents uh responded or rated more positively when it came to overall sense of safety, it was actually our um older resident population groups, 55 plus that had the highest uh satisfaction rating with regard to overall sense of safety.

So just you begin to see some distinctions, right?

Depending on the different community characteristics.

Um, next up, we have also economic development.

And so um what we found, I'm sorry, here acceptance of residents of all backgrounds in El Paso.

So, what I love about this one in particular surfacing as a strategic strength is that we saw it in what residents love most of El Paso, you saw, you know, you saw a sense of community, you saw um that come up quite a bit, that sense of pride and that sense of alignment.

Um, it also surfaced in the community survey where we saw, you know, again, a high satisfaction uh rating, and then you see here a breakdown.

Um, also district six came up as our our happiest at 73% acceptance, acceptance.

Just calling it out.

So just something to spotlight there.

But those are three strategic strengths that we can certainly share in our messaging, right?

And it goes back to not only our residents telling us it's what they love most of El Paso, but when we look across demographic groups, um it came up pretty consistently.

Now we're moving over to area of opportunity because I as I mentioned earlier, we're leaning into those areas so that we can truly focus on building out strategies that will help improve, right?

These areas.

So, first one, and so this was the area that actually had the lowest rating across our key community characteristics, availability of jobs that pay a living wage.

And so this was really core to how our proposed pillars began to take shape as we looked at the data.

Here again, though, um, there is some good news in looking at while the satisfaction was relatively low, um, it is our younger age demographic, 18 to 34 that did rate it more highly comparatively.

So it's like there is that sense of our younger residents seeing that there is progress, and so how do we continue to build upon that perception and that rating?

Okay, another area of opportunity.

So economic development was pretty mixed, and we saw that while 38 rated it positively, we also have a fairly high uh negative rating at 27%.

We did ask a follow-up question to gain more insights, and of course, in the in the comprehensive report, there's um you know further drill down, but I think here we begin to see theme with that alignment of in areas of economic growth, viewer do say they've seen more job opportunities as we look at it in different categories.

And so again, a link to that area of opportunity as it pertains to availability of jobs.

All right, so this one, no surprises, right?

I think I mentioned earlier 20 years in public service, and certainly street conditions has been something that comes up repeatedly as an opportunity.

Um, and so here we find an area where we actually have um less positive rating comparatively, right?

31% rated it positively as compared to 38%.

So it does give us um a very clear focus area that uh that we need to look at as we talk about strategic planning over the next two years.

Um, but also what we saw, and we have this um depicted here is that perceptions of street conditions do vary quite significantly across the different district areas, um with district five having the highest satisfaction compared to district three at 19%.

So this gives us some additional information as we look at um street conditions and strategies related to that.

All right, so having said all of that and going back to those eight bubbles and all the different insights, the data, the conversations, it started with a lot of conversations and then um getting all that information for this mega conversation, right?

The convening that is the strategic planning session.

But as we take a step back and looking at all of the above, it really began to take shape as pillars, right?

And the insights guided what those pillars became.

And so the first proposed pillar focuses on economic mobility, right?

And the key piece being that mobility aspect.

And so, as um Leila also mentioned earlier, the framing for this is a pillar really surfaces around this sentiment that residents residents want to feel that opportunity is for them, not happening around them, right?

So it raises a lot of questions.

How might we focus on these different opportunities that ensure individuals feel that there's that step, that growth, that opportunity, what might that look like?

And so everything from higher quality job opportunities, um conversation around elevating local businesses and what that might look like.

Um we also heard about simplifying internal systems that are permitting as an example as we look at supporting our our local businesses and um and then the availability of housing options came up, and uh the reason why I call this one out is as part of this process, um, all of those different community characteristics yielded high impact challenges, meaning there are certain areas that are key indicators for quality of life and availability of housing was one of them that surfaced for us as an opportunity.

And so you'll see that these items directly link to key priorities that were identified for this initial proposed pillar.

As we move into public safety, one of the things that we saw move uh reflecting back on the slide that I just shared is that while we do report a higher sense of overall safety comparatively, there are opportunities to provide proactive and visible approaches, which was called out in a lot of the feedback that we got on the open-ended side, and also this connection to public spaces and how they're how they can be perceived more safely, right, through investments, and we're gonna hear about that piece a bit more.

But everything from managing traffic conditions and it it surfaced quite a bit, and so a direct alignment there with safety and safe um street conditions as part of the public safety uh proposed pillar.

Infrastructure, people, places, and daily life that feels connected.

So this is a little bit of a departure from how we've talked about infrastructure in the past.

I think in previous iterations, the focus was very much on those capital physical build improvements.

And what we found is when residents refer to infrastructure or when infrastructure you know surfaces, it's also about safe, clean streets and spaces that bring people together.

So being able to enjoy the facilities that we have available and thinking through that connectivity piece, right?

The mobility piece surfaced quite a bit.

So as I mentioned earlier, street conditions is still the top priority that came up as far as a rate of low rating of satisfaction and opportunities around that around that, but also what surfaced quite a bit is the cleanliness and maintenance of existing right infrastructure.

So ensuring that we get the basics right consistently surfaced pretty consistently as an over as an overarching theme across the feedback that we collected.

And then lastly, just the to enable safer, easier movement for people of all ages and abilities.

So that was certainly a call out for the infrastructure proposed pillar.

Quality of life, a city that feels both livable and enjoyable.

So when it comes to quality of life, um, and it's referenced here, it's was really perceived as a unifying pillar, meaning all things connect back to it, right?

So you can't have a high quality of life, or you cannot support a high quality of life, which is very much reflected in our mission, unless we're thinking about safety, infrastructure, a sense of belonging, right?

And that was very, I think you had that as well, Rebecca, and your and your earlier comments.

That sense of belonging is very centered in how we need to think about quality of life.

And so we added there some of the data highlights, but it's enhancing those community experiences that can allow for that, um, and also connection back to essential human services, right?

That allow for that type of um connection.

Um, so it's that livable piece and enjoyable piece.

And then lastly, we have our proposed pillar of good governance.

And so all of these different pillars um have an underpinning that connects to the good governance that supports it.

And so what surfaced pretty consistently is a sense of leadership that is responsive and reliable, right?

And so the responsive piece, meaning ensuring that there isn't just opportunities for input and conversation, but that there is an understanding of where our process goes from end to end, closing that loop.

That's a lot of what we've heard in these different discussions, ensuring that we're timely in our responses, and that helps provide that reliability, right?

Because you begin to see that there's more of that consistency.

Um, and the last piece I incorporated here from our workforce is really this sense of employees seeing them as themselves as stewards for El Paso's identity.

I think that's that's part of the reason why we felt so proud that this year and for this session, the theme that resulted is greetings from El Paso because we we certainly see that reflected in the pride that we all want to carry to celebrate our community, but we also heard from our workforce, and this is consistent with what I just shared on the infrastructure pillar as well as safety, well-maintained streets, infrastructure, and basic services, signal care, right?

That we care about our community and we're continuing to make those um investments so that in turn it provides that sense of um stability with the services that we provide.

So a lot of good governance is grounded in this sense of not only clear communication but meaningful engagement.

And so we're hoping today is an example of that, right?

As we bring different voices literally to the table, but that we also recognize this is not the input, the end point, this is um just another opportunity to participate in the process that will shape our strategic direction in the short term.

All right, so I'm gonna pause there, but very excited to move over to the next section, which is youth perspectives.

Um, and now you'll hear directly from our youth advisory board members.

But before we do that, um, just a quick recap.

So when the um youth advisory board members met during their January 12th meeting, we had a strategic conversation around what some of those priorities are that they'll share with you.

We focused on a starting point for highest priority needs, and they did a crosswalk activity, so they'll be sharing um that approach and what came out of that process with you today.

Um but the intent is for them to really begin to share the insights as the part of our local action plan uh process.

And so I'm happy to invite our uh primary partner and strategic partner in all things related to our child friendly cities initiative in this work, um, Stephanie Otero, which is the executive vice president for the Paso Community Foundation to kick this off for us.

As Representative Acevedo already shared, the re-establishment of the Youth Advisory Board was driven by our community's commitment to achieving UNICEF's child-friendly city designation, an effort led by the City of El Paso, the El Paso Community Foundation, and the nonprofit Para Niños.

For those of you that are unfamiliar, just give you a little background on UNICEF.

In 1989, world leaders came together and made a historic commitment to the world's children.

It was a promise that all children without discrimination would enjoy protection and rights.

Rights that cannot be perceived as optional or out of charity.

They adopted an international legal framework, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The convention containing 54 articles explains who children are under 18, all their rights, and a framework for governments to follow.

It aims to allow children the ability to grow, learn, play, develop, and flourish with dignity.

The convention went on to become the most widely ratified human rights treaty in history and has helped transform children's lives.

In fact, the only country that did not ratify was the United States.

So, oops.

So UNICEF is going city by city.

Three have already received the designation: Houston, Decatur, and Minneapolis.

El Paso is one of six cities currently in pursuit of the designation.

And ultimately, we must demonstrate that the voices, needs, priorities, and rights of children are an integral part of public policy programs and decisions.

How do we do this?

We involve the youth in an intentional and thoughtful way.

For example, we ask them: do you feel safe?

Do you have access to health care?

Are there parks and playgrounds available to you?

And most importantly, do you feel seen and heard?

UNICEF created five priority areas: safety and inclusion, child participation, equitable social services, play and leisure, and safe living environments.

A city is first given the green light once it has demonstrated the readiness to begin the three-year process, engaging stakeholders, developing action plans, and implementing those plans.

We are currently in year one, focused on stakeholder engagement.

The first step in that process was for the youth advisory board to conduct a crosswalk between the city's identified priority areas and those of UNICEF, which you'll hear about in just a moment.

But to help ground our work, we'd like to share a special moment from the launch announcement this past November when we introduced our partnership with UNICEF to the community, and youth from across our region shared their talents, voices, and perspectives.

And to share this special moment, it is my pleasure to introduce our first youth advisory board speaker, Aliana Acunia.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

My name is Aliana Cunha, and I'm currently a senior attending El Dorado High School in the IP program.

I was uh appointed on behalf of Representative Nino to represent District 5 on the Youth Advisory Board.

Before I before I go over UNICEF's FCI five priorities, I'd like to begin with a poem that was showcased at the UNICES launch event titled The City of Dreams by Aria Trujillo.

Close your eyes and imagine El Paso.

A beautiful, humble city.

Picture how the big, beautiful, bright sun rises upon the mountaintops with all the colors filled with beauty, every second a sight to see.

And everyone and everything filled with a spark of spectacular.

I adore how everyone has a flower blooming in their heart, beating with kindness, all the buildings handcrafted with concentration and smiles.

And by just sharing a smile every now and then, you're a caring for our city.

Everything is amazing, especially how the starts glisten in the night sky, just like a piece of gold.

Now I know exactly what it is.

It's El Paso, the perfect city just the way it is.

We included this poem because we thought it was an indicative glimpse into the youth's perception of how they see El Paso, and I couldn't agree more with Arya's inspiring words.

At the conclusion of our last meeting, the youth advisory board was asked one question.

In the next two years, what is one thing I would want to that I would most want to change about Al Pas about the life in El Paso?

Now think about this question and what your response would be.

Um the responses were organized into sections that fell into UNICEF's FCI CI five priorities.

Now, as an adult, I'm sure a few things come straight to mind.

Maybe it's your water bill, your mortgage, or do you wish they'd stop building car washes everywhere?

For the youth, it was this.

Um so right now they broke it up into five categories that were priorities for the uh UFCI.

Um I'll read my own response.

I would like for El Paso to focus on more activities that bring the city together and other people like a festival, and focus more on safety and prioritizing the DOI issue here in El Paso.

Now I worry about the same things that you adults also worry about.

I worry about my health care, I worry about the programs that are being cut at my school, and I worry about my safety.

This was my response.

When asked this question, I was formed between what I wanted and what was the right choice.

The DOI issue is a serious problem, serious problem here in El Paso that's become more prevalent to not only the youth, but everyone with every Fitfam post that gets posted every day.

Issues like this have now become normalized along with destruction and impact that drugs and alcohol have brought onto the youth.

The issues limit opportunities that the youth has, it discourages parents from letting their kids out, and encourages poor behavior.

Their responses reflected concerns across all categories, but primarily in the quality of life.

Themes of education, overall health, accessibility, a community resource, public safety, and city appeal were all consistently presented as issues that concern the youth.

The youth are not only concerned about their quality of life, whether it be hosting more fun events, creative outlets, prioritation, inclusion, and accessibility across the whole city.

To conclude my part, the responses are just a small glimpse into what the priorities are in the youth.

I'd like to introduce Leon Lerma, who will be presenting a more in-depth look into the youth priority.

I'm a junior at Mountwood High School, and I was appointed to the Youth Advisory Board by Representative Art Fiero of District Six.

On these next two slides, we are looking at the City of El Paso Pillars and the Child Friendly City Initiative priority crosswalk activity, which maps and highlights the top priorities identified for the next two years by the youth advisory board during our last meeting in January.

What stands out immediately is how often safe living environments appears across multiple categories, whether it's public safety, infrastructure, or governance, you've consistently emphasized the importance of clean air and water, safe public spaces, access to quality education and health care, and protection from violence and environmental hazards.

Safety is clearly fundamental for our youth.

Another strong theme is safety and inclusion.

Youth one systems that are inclusive, equitable, and responsive, especially for marginalized children.

This includes removing barriers to services and ensuring that every child feels valued and supported in our community.

We also saw a major emphasis on play and leisure, but not just playgrounds, youth highlighted interconnected development, creating opportunities for creativity, problem solving, family connection, and safe gathering spaces around the city.

In addition, child participation emerged as a key priority.

Young people want meaningful involvement in decision making.

They are asking for integration, empowerment, and rights-based approach grounding in children's well-being.

Moving on to the next slide, we are focusing on quality of life.

Here, safe living environment superior most, reinforcing that safety, access, and equitable forms the foundation of youth.

Well being.

All work together to improve quality of life in El Paso.

Next, I would like to introduce our next presenter, my fellow youth advisory board member Madison Miller.

Good afternoon, everyone.

My name is Madison Miller and I am a sophomore at Franklin High School, and I'm the district one representative from the youth advisory board, and was appointed by Mayor Pro Temp Chavez.

I'm super excited to be here with you all today, and I am thankful for the opportunity to speak on behalf of the fellow youth in my community.

The Youth Advisory Board and I have identified three specific areas regarding El Paso becoming a UNICEF youth-friendly city.

These three areas are not isolated issues, but really are interconnected, and we wanted to describe a total focus from the youth for the youth.

The first is public safety, the second is economic development, and the final point is city social engagement.

Together, these all come together to define what quality of life truly looks like for all the young people in El Paso.

I want to begin with the first point, public safety.

Public safety is truly such a foundational issue because if the youth of El Paso do not feel safe, then there can be no positive development.

My fellow youth needs to feel safe on our public transportation.

A fellow board member commented directly on this issue, and she told everyone how her and her friends never ride city buses because they do not feel safe on them.

Public safety also includes kids not being endangered by DUI, specifically DUI and drug use by my fellow youth as well.

I speak here from personal experience that many of the youth in El Paso are routinely using alcohol and drugs and driving while intoxicated.

This is not good, and we need to improve on this in this area.

This teenagers who drink and or use drugs are at greater risk for almost any negative thing that a person can think of.

And this needs to be mentioned with more frequently, and the city can get involved in here.

The city needs to remind the youth of this and the schools need to reinforce this in classrooms.

I would now like to discuss the economic discuss economic development.

Almost all of the accomplished teenagers I know tell me how they want to leave El Paso as soon as they graduate.

Their desire to leave is primarily based on economics.

The best and the brightest teenagers that grow up in El Paso leave, and we call this the brain drink.

One of my closest friends, Allie, is currently an undergraduate student at the University of Kansas.

She tells me and everyone all the time how she feels that El Paso has given her so much in her youth that she just wants to come back and bring it and give all that back to El Paso.

And this is the mentality that all our youth should have.

The youth want to stay, but we want good jobs too.

The city should get involved here by cre encouraging new high-paying jobs for young people in El Paso.

In addition, the city can improve local educational and job training opportunities for all the youth.

This can all be accomplished by creating a more economically friendly environment focused towards the youth.

Addressing economic development is not just about today, but it's really about planning for the rest of the future of El Paso and giving young people reason to stay, return, and invest in the city, just like Ali always says.

Finally, I would like to discuss city social engagement for youth.

Specifically, the city of El Paso engaging its use in a youth in a socially positive way.

A lot has been done here, and I can remember when I was little, we would go to the dog park and we would play at the little water parks, and I always had so much fun at them.

And also, the city has built plenty more water parks, and from what I've seen, we really have one of the most amazing park systems in the U.S.

However, there is still always room for improvement.

I would encourage the city to collaborate with different school districts to encourage cross-city social engagement so where a student from Franklin High School could attain attend the same social activities as a student from Chapin High School.

In addition, the city can also encourage more uniformity with extracurriculars and social clubs within the various schools.

For example, I'm a member of Key Club and DECA, but why is it that only a select few number of schools in the city have that opportunity?

In fact, recently I was just uh I was a DECA state finalist, and I believe only about five students were called up to stage from El Paso.

And this is at a competition with thousands of people being called up, and I feel that if we have more students going and having the opportunity to participate in these kinds of things, then we can get more people to go further and go to ICDC and qualify for things like that and truly represent El Paso to the rest of the country.

Next, this work requires collaboration between city leaders, school districts, education, and youth themselves, each playing an important role in creating a community-led approach.

Efforts should be made by the city to create new kid-friendly social activities as well.

Wholesome social events where youth of El Paso can gather together, like dances, movie nights, board games, things at libraries, etc.

With the events that we do have also, because we do have a lot of them, and the youth always say, there's nothing to do in El Paso, but there are things to do in El Paso.

The city should create a central online platform that youth can go to to find these events.

Specifically creating an Instagram page that covers things for youth to do in El Paso weekly would be really helpful here.

I recently started Cougars off the clock at Franklin, and it's basically an Instagram like slideshow that we post every week now of things to do in my area of Franklin.

And I think it would be really beneficial for all students to be able to see this because also you can have students from across town from the east side and west side come together and really start to get to know each other.

Finally, in order to constantly improve, the city can also have feedback sections on these platforms where the youth can express their opinions on what events and things that in general they want the city to change and to improve on.

These concerns come directly from youth voices, and meaningful change requires the city to continue listening to young people throughout this process.

So far, El Paso has been such an amazing place to grow up in.

But everything can be improved.

And I hope the youth advisory board's advice will give some helpful guidance to the leaders of our city um in improving the life of the youth from the youth.

And now I'd like to pass the microphone back to Miss Baldwin Munios.

Thank you.

All right.

Aren't they wonderful?

And so very proud.

So I know not all of our youth advisory board members were presenters, so I wanted to invite um the others that are in attendance.

If you just want to call Ernie Madison is our our chair in the mic, and then just share with us your school.

And uh yeah, in your position.

Yes.

Okay, so good afternoon, everyone.

My name is Madison Serra.

I am a junior at El Paso High School, and I am the delegate for the district eight of um representative Mr.

Canales.

Um, and in general, this city youth advisory council means a lot, and I hope that within the future of El Paso, we can make change, but in the end, change starts with not only the youth, but it starts with every adult in this room.

And as everyone says now, the the youth is our future.

And with this um with this event that is going on right now, I truly believe that change can be done, and it will be done with the voices of our youth and with your help and with the city of El Paso.

Thank you.

Thank you, Madison.

And she is the current chair for the youth advisory board.

And then we'll turn it over to Miss Rebecca.

Hello?

Can you hear me?

Okay.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Hello, my name is Rebecca Olguin.

I attend Valle Verde, Early College High School, and I represent representative Lily Limon for District 7.

And I just want to thank everybody for the opportunity to just be in this room.

I know a lot of people, especially people that I know, don't even know that this is a thing.

They don't know that they can be involved in the community, that they can speak their mind and ask to make choices for the betterment of their life.

And I think that it is such an important role, and I want to think that I am able to be able to be here because I think that the youth plays a very important role in the city because we are the future.

We are the people that are gonna be growing up and making decisions when we get the opportunity to in the future, because I don't know if I can just speak for myself when saying this, but I feel a lot of people don't take the youth seriously.

They consider us kids, and we don't they say we don't know what we're doing because we're so young.

But I think that it is a very important thing that the youth gets involved, that they get to make these decisions within the city, and that they are able to help with the betterment of the community.

That's all.

Thank you.

Oh, there you go.

Yes, please.

Okay, my name is Adler Yanias.

I represent Josh Azaville for District 2.

I attend El Paso High School.

And I'm a junior, and I truly believe that this has so much potential to be such a big thing.

Um, and we need everyone in this room's help to just make El Paso kid friendly and just do have so much more opportunities for the youth in this city.

That's it.

Thank you very much.

Oravera, and I'm representing uh Mayor Renard Johnson on the youth advisory board.

And um, first off, I just want to thank everyone for being here and everyone who presented.

There were a lot of really insightful things that I heard today, and a lot of things that I think are gonna help all of us in this room.

Um I also want to thank everyone just for the opportunity to be here.

I feel really I feel really honored that I can be here and sit here and speak on behalf of um my peers.

Um I wanna particularly thank Madison Miller because she was talking about an Instagram account for like the city, and I think I urge all of you in this room that no matter what you do, you all need to have more outreach with younger people, you know.

Um pretty soon, like you're gonna realize, oh, like, oh, I thought that person was just a kid and now they're working with you, you know.

Um starting to work and more people need to work.

So it's really important that in one way or another you find out a way to reach out to them, whether it be through social media or surveys or whatever it is.

But yeah, thanks everyone.

That's all.

Uh hello everyone.

I am David Dorsey.

I am the uh youth advisory board for district four with Cynthia Boyer.

I'm from Manchester High School.

I'm a junior.

And I'm really happy to be on this board.

Uh it's an opportunity that not a lot of people get.

It's an opportunity to help El Paso grow to help our fellow generation grow.

As well as to learn things that you might not learn in school, such as the wonderful economics presentation we just had.

Um this is a very big opportunity, especially for our youth.

And if it was to be shown to these people, I think it would be I can't speak, I'm so sorry.

No, but I think this is a really good opportunity that not a lot of our generation is taking because obviously there is uh many members of our generation that are passionate about what they're doing.

Uh we have exhibit A over there.

I really like this board and I really like the people on here.

I think these are very passionate people and I would love to work with them to help out so thank you.

Thank you, David.

I'll just hi everyone.

My name's Ariana Hymet, and I'm from Eastwood High School.

I'm a senior.

I'm representing Miss Diana and Rocha for District Three.

And I just want to say I'm so proud of everyone on this board.

I know everyone here is very involved, and I'm so proud to be representing El Paso in my district and the youth voices.

And something that I also mentioned when we would have meetings is um the importance of education and also nutrition in our schools.

And I know we mentioned a lot during the but also financial literacy for those wages.

Teaching kids the importance of managing your money.

And if you're getting paid a lot of money, then having a plan to have that money saved in the future so that you can be accounted for because this is something that's just not starting for the youth, but it's for the future of El Paso, and I'm extremely grateful to be here with everyone today.

And again, I'm so proud of you guys.

I'm so proud of Madison and Aliana.

You guys are just you guys are like my role models.

Okay.

But thank you guys, honestly, for being here.

Um, and I'm honored again to be representing District 3 with Miss Deanna and Rocha.

Thank you guys.

Thank you so much.

All right.

So then that leads us to our first um recess before we get into some more conversation.

So I'm gonna invite the one, the only Miss Laura Prine.

Yeah.

Get excited.

Council, may we have a motion to recess?

Second.

There's a motion in a second.

Can I have someone uh from the youth advisory board of members make the same motion to recess?

Okay, all in favor?

Hi.

Anyone opposed?

And the meetings are in recess at 3 19 p.m.

So please make your way back in a couple minutes.

We have an activity planned for you all.

So please take a couple minutes and make your way back to your seats.

Yes.

Yes, okay.

All right, everyone, make it back to your seats, please.

If everyone can make it back to their seats.

Okay, then I'll announce the roles.

Okay.

And then you'll tell them about the first section.

All right, everyone.

We're about to get started.

Please make your way back.

Just one.

All right.

All right.

So as you make your way back to the table, we're gonna have um the lovely Jasmine Flores that's gonna go over our activity rolls.

So here we go.

Over to Jasmine and Laura Cruz Acosta for this activity.

Jasmine, guide us on what we can expect.

All right, we're combating that three o'clock slump with some El Paso Jeopardy.

So let's hear it.

El Paso Jeopardy, come on.

We're excited, we're happy, we might win some prizes.

Oh, now I got your attention.

All right.

Okay, so here's how the game works.

We have three teams.

These teams along the back, these three tables, your team one, hi team one.

These four along the middle, your team two, hi team two.

And these three along the side, your team three.

Yeah.

So each team is gonna have a designated captain to answer the questions.

So team, pick your pick your representative.

All right.

Team three, who's your captain?

I'm seeing a lot of fingers of different people.

Madison, okay, all right.

Yay, team captains.

Uh if you don't get the answer right, we're gonna move on to team two and so on.

And then we'll circle around back.

However, if you're Ken Jennings and you get three in a row, we're gonna have to pass it on to the next team because fair's fair.

And we want to make sure everybody gets a chance to get some points.

That's right.

You have twenty seconds, or the length of the Jeopardy song to answer your question.

They are not any doubles.

You're already in the double round.

School pride for five hundred.

This El Dorado High School mascot is named after an ancient Mesoamerican ruler.

Five seconds.

Four, three, two, one.

Who is Mesozuma?

I thought we just rule.

No.

Sorry.

Group two.

I thought we could steal.

What do we take?

Nicole Rodriguez.

City government for five hundred.

City government for five hundred.

No, long one.

The other one.

Oh we get it by default.

Thanks, guys.

We are gathered here today to help shape El Paso's future.

The answer is in a f a question.

What is the strategic plan?

Thank you, City Manager Mac.

You have another chance.

I'll take city government one thousand.

Oh this is the most popular form of government in Texas.

What is the city manager form of council or council government?

City manager form of government.

Judges say yes.

You have the floor again.

I'll take city government for nine hundred.

City government for nine hundred.

Before launching a public survey, this team can connect you with the chief data administrator to ensure it's set up for meaningful community driven feedback.

What is community driven innovation?

What is community?

I'm not gonna say they're I'm not gonna say they're cheating, but they have the city manager at the table.

I'm just saying.

I'd like to call it strategic placement.

Thank you.

Group number three, please.

School pride a thousand?

Group three, Miss Madison.

It doesn't work.

It's not okay.

There you go.

School Pride a thousand.

School Pride a thousand.

This sports team became the first all African American starting lineup to win the nineteen sixty-six NCAA championships.

What is Texas Western basketball?

That was in the nineteen hundreds.

We're talking about today, but we're gonna give you the points because yes, you're correct.

You have another opportunity.

School Pride nine hundred.

Go ahead.

School Pride nine hundred.

What is the school of minds?

Miner.

What is mining and metallurgy?

I didn't write these Judges Judges rule.

Judge says no.

All right.

Group one.

Team one.

The original M on the Franklin Mountains was painted in nineteen twenty-three.

Just to the east of what is now known as Murchison Park.

What is the M stand for?

What is the College of Minds and Metallurgy?

Judges rule.

No.

The room says no.

All right, moving on.

Group two.

Team two.

Miss Nicole Rodriguez.

I'll take city government for eight hundred.

City government for eight hundred.

City employees visit this place when they feel like the city's wellness clinic in City One.

What is that?

Oh, there's three city wellness clinics.

One's at what I'm sorry.

Oh, what is the city's wellness clinic?

Sorry, I forgot what game you're playing.

All right, you have one more chance.

Two more, sorry.

Okay, we're gonna switch it up and go City Teams five hundred.

City Teams five hundred is this newly established apartment champions city priorities and advocating for its interests at the local, state, and federal levels.

What is the strategic and legislative affairs?

Also known as sleigh.

And your department head wasn't paying attention.

You have one more?

Yep.

What do you want?

All right, we'll go City Teams one thousand.

City Teams one thousand residents who need lift paratransit services can apply for this free program through this department's website.

What is Sun Metro?

That is correct.

We're moving over to Team Three.

Okay.

Famous faces, places and spaces for a thousand.

No, I'm sorry.

That one is on hold for now.

Can we move on to the next one?

You'll get it later.

You'll get it later.

Okay.

Nine hundred?

Yeah.

For nine hundred.

This real bar on Donovan Drive inspired this music hit in nineteen fifty-nine.

Sorry.

What is Rosa's Cantina?

That is correct.

You have two more.

Okay.

For eight hundred.

Same category.

Yes.

Many believe that El Paso earned this nickname because of its popular cultural movement.

In the nineteen thirties and forties by Mexican American youth.

Okay.

What is El Chuco?

One more question.

No.

I don't know anything about stream.

A thousand um El Paso, right?

No.

I'll pass that through time.

I'll pass that through time a thousand.

This sculpture celebrates a time when these live animals lived in a pond at San Jacito Plaza.

Okay.

What is Los Lagartos?

Mayor.

I'm gonna give you an opportunity to play.

To play.

All right, let's go.

Yes.

Because the team behind the the table behind you keeps can I pick the category?

Because the team behind the the table behind you keeps can I pick the category?

Yes.

Uh, famous spaces, places and spaces.

This mascot lights up a room when he makes a friendly appearance in the Sun City.

Who is the amigo man?

Shake it, buddy, shake it, buddy.

All right.

So um, we're still in recess councils.

Uh so now we're gonna go ahead and take a group photo, maybe with the amigo man.

Um, if we can go and join us outside next to the amigo man sign.

Oh, the winners of this of this game has been that goes to our point.

That goes reluctantly to team two.

We're gonna have a rematch, but for then for now, let's take a group photo because we've got to move on to the next item on the agenda.

So meet me outside in the in front of the amigo man sign.

You'll see it just as you walk out.

With the youth advisory board, yes.

If everyone will please take their seats, the meeting can reconvene.

Council?

Motion and a second to reconvene.

Youth Advisory Board.

Is there a motion and a second to reconcile?

Motion and a second to reconvene the meetings.

All in favor?

Anyone opposed?

Meetings are back in session at three fifty-four PM at this time.

We will hear from the public.

Thank you.

Thank you, everybody, especially the young leaders, our future in this community.

My name is Kathleen Stout, Kathy Stout for short.

I'm a retired professor from UTEP and co-founder of the Community First Coalition, which celebrates its eighth year as an alliance of 25 organizations and leaders actively engaged in local issues such as climate action.

We have closely monitored local government since our birth in 2018.

The community first coalition stands firmly behind working with the community and city to expand affordable housing citywide, both for the environment and for the national local quote unquote affordability crisis.

Last fall we held a CFC forum with residents, organizers, neighborhood associations, nonprofit organizations, and housing experts on affordable housing.

There are many tools and strategies available to address our community needs.

As a 40-year professor at UTEP, veteran teaching, poly sci and public administration.

For example, Austin's Housing Finance Corporation facilitated small developers initiative, a public-private partnership to widen opportunities for those developers who have been historically excluded.

San Antonio's collaboration blends multiple funding sources and tax credits to create and preserve affordable housing.

So we hope you will make affordable housing a priority in all of your districts.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The next speaker is Roberto Franco.

Good afternoon.

Thank you for the opportunity to give you some input on some programs that I ran when I was in the city of Phoenix for 15 years.

I was the I was economic development director of City of Phoenix for 15 years.

And we were the first municipality who applied and received 170 million dollars of new market tax credits.

And we created a commercial real estate fund for nonprofits, for profits, and developers.

If you ever gone to Phoenix recently, all that downtown area was the medical school school, medical school, University of Arizona was redeveloped through this program.

I left there in 2017.

My wife passed away of 38 years, and I said, I'm gone.

I'm going back home, see if I can do something here.

The city manager said, Bobby, you can do whatever you want to do.

Bless you.

The long and short of it, my first project was the surpueblo, the Tigua Indian Clinic.

I brought them $55 million.

One percent for seven years.

At the end of the seven years, the note disappears, and they get back six, eight million dollars.

This program just got 10 billion dollars recently from the US Treasury.

I'm helping in Las Cruces in Vado and Berino.

Uh Rose Garcia, I don't know if you know her Rose, but in Vado, we're doing about 50 to 60 uh affordable homes for LMI folks, low moderate income people, and then also in Berino.

We already have people that are interested in helping us fund that program.

One's about 12 million dollars, and the other one's about eight million dollars.

Well, the equity that we get from New Markets, we buy down the mortgages.

So if they're like 270, which they are, they're gonna be like maybe 250 to 240.

They make it affordable.

Rose has a first-time home buyers assistance program that she's developing over there, and she wants to bring it to El Paso.

We've already talked to the county, Project Vita, and the City of El Paso.

Ms.

Elizabeth Moya is interested in working with us.

She has about 11 million dollars that we can work with that we could find people to be able to take that money.

So that's what we're here to hopefully you all can make affordable housing a priority because we we know of different programs that we can be able to make you aware of, and we want to do that.

Thank you very much for your time and thank you, Mayor, for allowing us and city manager for allowing us to be here.

Great popcorn and peanuts and everything else that you can.

The final speaker is Ms.

Carmen Rodriguez.

Thank you.

The reason that we decided to come today was because when we saw the agenda, we saw that you had already uh identified some priorities.

And we noticed that the housing uh was identified in three districts.

I believe it was two, uh seven, and uh eight.

We believe that all the districts should identify housing as a priority.

As you will see, one of your one of your uh presentations, and this is from the housing uh needs assessment.

All of the districts have housing needs.

They have identified 37,000 for now and I'm sorry, 18,000 for now and 37,000 in the next few years.

So, in summary, we asked that increasing and improving affordable housing be incorporated during this session as a specific strategy.

So it so all of the districts can uh can benefit from such a from a program that we are trying to um tell you about the info provided for this session uh indicates the three districts identified, and so just consider that up to 30 percent of our residents don't have adequate housing.

It may be in disrepair, crowded, too hot, too cold, and even sandy surfaces all over our interiors.

Quality of life for them begins with an adequate, safe, secure, comfortable home that I'm sure all of us, most of us enjoy.

At the present time, we rely largely on federal HUD funds which go to home, which then builds large apartment complexes at 300 to 500 units at a time.

And we know what a challenge it is for neighborhoods to welcome or even accept new thousands of new tenants into their areas.

With a local foundation, the city will have wide discretion and flexibility to build or rehab existing homes in smaller quantities in areas of greatest needs.

By initiating such a foundation right away, you will begin to address the problem sooner and not before the needs for units increases to 30 or 50,000.

From what we have seen, substantial amount of quality work in collecting, analyzing, and developing housing strategy has already been completed.

Your departments are doing uh a great job with this.

The community, the community needs assessment and the city design lab staff, uh including the consultant, Mr.

Processor, Mr.

Passer, did uh a great job with the housing needs assessment.

Let's not wait longer for implementation.

The need will only get worse.

Please include affordable housing as a priority strategy.

Better housing opportunities may be the key to keeping our working families here and contributing to our city.

Thank you very much for your attention, and we hope you do consider it.

I'll come back tomorrow and see how things go.

Bye.

That concludes public comment.

And for the record, Representative Madonna Rocha joined the meeting at 2.20 p.m.

Okay, thank you.

If we can get the presentation called back up.

So for the final two sections for today, um, we're gonna move into internal perspective.

So you're gonna hear from our operators, and we're gonna talk about um some the key priority areas.

So we talked about earlier the proposed pillars, so making those connections to current key programs and services, as well as some opportunities, policies and funding considerations aligned with those pillars.

So with that, I am happy to welcome up our first uh presenter, which is uh Miss Nicole Cody Cody.

Good afternoon.

Um thank you so much, Julie, as I as we get started.

This is the city's role in addressing these key prior priority areas.

And so just to touch on them lightly, they were part of the slides that Julie presented earlier.

But the number one is expanding workforce pathways and the availability of jobs that pay livable wages, supporting people, small local businesses and key industries, as well as ensuring the availability of housing options.

So what's the city's role in this?

And when we attract and grow businesses, we create jobs.

And so it matters what kind of jobs and development that brings higher wages, stable roles with career letters, and creating that opportunity for mobility, because this is the economic mobility section.

As we look at that, part of that is of course economic development is truly the engine that's going to drive economic mobility and opportunity for the city.

And so by providing small business and entrepreneurship with essential tools and resources, we're actually able to allow residents to build assets, to not just earn wages, but also build wealth and help them with long-term mobility and intergenerational wealth.

The last point we have is to create conditions for job growth, workforce participation, and upward mobility by focusing investments in these areas, we're reducing the barriers for our community.

As we look at our key programs, these are just four of the key programs.

We have a lot of programs that work across the city and multiple departments that are going to work in this area.

But the four that we're touching on today is the city's role as an employee retention, our economic development department's role with economic development programs, along with housing strategy implementation.

As you as we've heard before, we did have the housing assessment that was presented.

And that comes also with envisional PASO along with implementation of that, which we'll talk about on the next slide.

And then community and human development's role with community infrastructure and the availability of affordable housing units and a critical critical infrastructure citywide.

As we look at the last slide for economic mobility, we have key opportunities policies and funding considerations.

And so just to touch on a few here, it becomes that adoption and implementation of the envisional PASO, which is our updated comprehensive plan, as I mentioned, along with a continued alignment with our regional workforce boards and major major employers.

We have other policies that are also going to be coming up policies and supporting small businesses to include our infill development policy, our 380 policy that's also coming up, as well as in continuing our key partnerships through the business one stop shop, which brings together, of course, over 30 entrepreneurial support organizations and provides that centralized platform for resources to come together for our local businesses.

And so next, I'd like to introduce Chief Mario Diagostino.

Thank you, Nicole.

And so looking here at the city's role in addressing our key priority areas of sustaining El Paso standard for a safe.

We're prioritizing on prevention.

And so we looked at expanding our visibility of police presence in our neighborhoods.

We want to improve our response times and have an overall impact on how long it takes our all of our response crews to get to the scene to get to that emergency so they can start being proactive.

We want to make sure they have the resources, the communications, and the public messaging so that they know what to do in an emergencies and make sure we're staying on top of those issues.

So looking in those areas, improving emergency response times and reliability, managing traffic conditions to enhance safety for all users.

And so with that, that gets into our vision zero and neighborhood traffic management plans.

When we look at our current key programs, we want to look at how we're strengthening those crime prevention programs and some of our key programs in looking at that is you know, we have our CIT teams, we have our DWI task force, we want to make sure that we continue investing into those areas to make sure that we can have that positive impact.

If you look at the FIRES mobile integrated health units, those are taking people, our community, some people in our community utilizing 911 as their health care provider.

What we're doing is we're proactively going out in advance of the calls.

And so we're getting them and we're connecting them with the services that they need so they don't have to call 911.

What does that do?

That gives us an overall reduction in response times because now we're not sending units to all those calls.

That's being handled on a non-emergency nature.

Our 911 response times are priority ones, reducing that officer availability time, substandard uh structures, and so that's with our code enforcement team working on working along with our property owners and holding quarterly meetings to make sure that they understand what's going on and what what avenues they have to correct the situations they're in.

And again, talking about our neighborhood traffic management program, our NTP.

And so when we go into key opportunities, policies and funding considerations, you know, this is where we we look at public safety is a shared operational responsibility across all departments.

It doesn't just fall under the programs in my portfolio, it's across the entire organization.

And we need to remember that our investment in prevention will lessen the cost of response in the future.

So by preventing those emergencies up front, we're able to better utilize our dollars in the future as we respond to these emergencies.

So with that, we'll continue to work with our partners and our collaborators, and we'll make sure that we we have those connections with whether it's our MIH team working with EHN, it's our MIH team working with UMC.

And so it's making sure that we have those connections so we continue going forward, looking for those grant funding opportunities, not just for equipment and personnel, but really looking at that prevention mechanism and how can we put those dollars to work now to prevent expenses in the future.

With that, I'll invite Yvette Hernandez up to the good afternoon.

Um really excited on the way that the feedback kind of structured and framed um infrastructure, right?

So it really came out people and places.

Love that.

I've never thought of infrastructure just in those two terms.

So really thinking how do we invest in our places, but then how do we get people there safely and efficiently?

So really setting it up for tomorrow, what are our key uh priority areas, right?

We all heard Julie said she said a little bit too many times, street condition and that it's a room for um opportunities and improvement.

So key priority areas, uh street maintenance is the top infrastructure, investment in overall cleanliness, maintenance, and enhancement of our spaces, easier and safer movement.

So, what are our roles tomorrow as we start looking at our key priorities and what we can do in two years is really looking at the street condition.

So we just passed the two-year plan for resurfacing, and so really talking about having more contracts out there, looking at the data-driven, what does the PCI in coordination with other utilities do so that we can improve our street condition, also mobility, safety, our uh vision zero action plan.

So to highlight on safe routes to parks, that is something that's really driven by data, looking at where we have incidents, how do we get our children, our community to our parks?

Um, and then also investing in our community spaces.

We want clean, well-lit, maintained citywide parks and sports fields.

So then looking at programs, right?

What does that look like in terms of all the departments that serve these key priorities?

As I made mentioned, the resurfacing program, planning, design, and construction management.

So we want to identify these projects, but we also want to deliver quality projects, and we need all these three working together to ensure that for our residents.

So really looking at holistic planning.

When we think about transportation, it's looking at a transportation network and how does the network um get everyone to those places that we're investing in safely, and really making sure that we're setting ourselves up, not to just deliver quality projects, but looking at design criteria, right?

So we want to make sure that should we need additional grant funding, additional um state and federal funding, that we're setting ourselves up by being thoughtful in our design process, um, ensuring that we are taking care of our investments, our green spaces are safe, and our city parks are visually appealing.

So, what does that look like in terms of opportunities?

So, really leveraging our grant dollars.

You heard that in some of the other uh pillars, and making sure that if need be, we do have that potential for alternative funding sources.

You'll hear from Mr.

Cortinas as he goes into the financial that we have these plans, but how do we make them a reality and implement them for our community?

So when we look at grant funding, the RAISE grant is providing us a comprehensive countywide mobility plan.

That's us working with our partners, uh, Fort Bliss, stakeholders, the Del Del Sur Pueblo, RMA, to make sure that we are thinking once again holistically of how we move um people, updating our design standards so that we have smart transportation networks and complete streets.

And then lastly, just looking at spaces that bring our community together, which we heard resoundingly in um the meetings that Miss Julie hosted is finalizing our parks master plan, identifying short mid long-term uh projects, and also re-purpose repurposing our underutilized assets.

And lastly, uh collaborating with our larger partners such as El Paso Water, making sure that when we're spending money on our CIP, that we're working together so that our limited funds are uh making more of an impact for our residents.

And with that, I will turn it over to DCM Richard Bristol.

For the proposed pillar of quality of life, a city that's both livable and enjoyable.

Our key priority areas are enhancing community experiences and amenities that invite discovery and enjoyment, making essential human services easier to access and navigate, reducing friction in daily life, and creating and activating spaces that encourage gathering, recreation, and cultural expression across our neighborhoods.

Now, our role in doing this, we provide a wide range of programming, and it caters to a lot of community interests, such as recreation and exercise programs for all ages within our parks and recreation department.

We have sports leagues, also multi-generational leagues, educational enhancement programs, cultural programming, artistic programming, and of course, health and welfare programming.

We create inclusive spaces where our community can create and build a sense of belonging.

We develop programs that support cultural connections, and we encourage inclusive activities.

And in doing so, we promote helmet wellness and promote health along the way.

We have wellness and health as a consideration in many of our signature community programs because we invite them to participate in these types of events.

And I'll touch on that in a second here.

But organizing events and programs that reflect our unique identity and our community values, and then we make enhancements to our spaces and our programs to make sure they're open and accessible to all community members.

So moving to um current key programs and services that are aligned.

We ensure services and programs are responsive to resident needs by collecting and analyzing information that we get from our citizens.

The parks master planning processes, and it's going on right now.

That'll set the tone for the next 10 years of park services.

We've done community surveys through animal services, which helped us set the tone for how we're going to implement the first 100 days of expectation with our new community animal services director.

We've done customer service uh customer journey mapping.

We use that with uh Mr.

Sancha Roman uh performance team, I'm sorry, through uh the uh performance office.

They they were able to make significant improvements for senior programming through customer journey mapping.

And of course, the advice and the recommendations of our boards and commissions, we're very fortunate to have one here with us today, are valuable information as well as our digital platforms.

We want to provide programs that enrich the quality of life of our res of our residents, and we have signature programming events that do that.

Our winterfest, our holiday of life's parade, chalk the block, Dia de los Muertos, the Lunar New Year, the Dia de los Niños, and then at these events, like I said, we we also promote the wellness and the access of health services, such as our immunization programs.

We bring them to the events and we can tie it all in a little bit.

Some of our key opportunities and policies, leveraging funding opportunities is a key consideration here because well, our our resources are limited.

Um we want to create a sense of belonging and ownership among our residents because when we do so, we can get their buy-in that can help us with getting more volunteers, with strengthening our relationships with neighborhood associations, and sometimes you can even get philanthropic philanthropic opportunities out of that as well.

Our policies that support access to services are essential for providing resident experiences.

Um residents or relationships with our community-based partners and our collaborators are important because they help us to understand things that we sometimes overlook or we don't look at because we're taking a different perspective as the organization as opposed to someone who might be a user.

And of course, again, our our boards and commissions, our neighborhood associations, and our civic groups are going to be key collaborators in helping us create new experiences as well.

With that, I have the privilege of introducing Miss Araceli Geraus.

Good afternoon.

So for our good governance pillar, or something.

Oh, there we go.

So for our good governance pillar, we are addressing the following key priorities for the city, which is providing clear communication and engagement options with the ability for residents to give input.

We are also sharing visible progress that conveys the value and overall quality of the services provided.

So what is our role in addressing these different priority key areas?

And it is to make sure that our residents understand and can navigate all of our services, utilizing all of the different services and programs that we offer as a city.

We also provide services that are efficient with accountability, ensuring that we have a fiscal responsibility outcome and provide a long-term financial sustainability, which you will hear about a little bit from Mr.

Cortinas.

We also have a role in utilizing data, making sure that we have data-driven decisions, and we have adjusted our performance-based budgeting to ensure that we have that process.

So our key programs and services that are aligned through this good governance pillar include community engagement, providing clear and timely and easy to understand services, so that all of our residents feel that they are included in the process.

Our strategic data alignment, we've improved our data-driven decision making process by building in our staff to ensure that we all understand how we're including this data and improving the services and programs the city provides.

We are also a financial steward of any funding that we have in our possession so that we're making sure that the residents feel like we are providing a tax-based service that they feel has a quality.

And then our enterprise risk management framework is also addressing, which it will be coming up.

They've already also provided this information during our financial oversight committee.

There is a framework that is being worked on so that every risk is addressed through the city program services that we offer.

And finally, our procurement of goods and services through efficient process that's open, fair, and competitive.

So lastly, what are our opportunities?

We've heard it a lot from our youth this morning when we talked or this earlier this afternoon.

We talked about fostering a collaborative environment, making sure that everyone feels seen and heard, and that their feedback is folded into the processes the city offers.

We also are committed to finding an opportunity to share tools that provide a clear and concise offering of where we are when we make decisions, how you can track those decisions, and where the feedback comes into it as well.

Lastly, our funding opportunities or considerations are always going to be our modernizing our technology.

This is the foundation of how we provide these services to our community, so making sure that we continue to take those funding considerations into account.

And lastly, continuing to build sustainable revenue strategies, as you've heard in previous budget presentations from Mr.

Cortinas, it is always going to be an important foundation that we need to continue to invest in.

And with that, I will go ahead and turn it over to Mr.

Cortinas for the financial perspective.

All right, good afternoon, everybody.

So this will be the last section of wrapping up this afternoon's session, but we can look forward to a full day tomorrow, a lot of work to be done tomorrow.

So in this section, covering a couple of things.

So these are the questions that we asked ourselves when we developed this presentation, really looking at one, some budget realities, and then two, get you all to start thinking about some of the key decisions that are going to be made to make these things happen.

We heard a lot of really great ideas.

Now it's going to be our job too.

How do we put these things in place and actually implement them to be successful?

So why this matters?

One, we've done several presentations to the council over the last several weeks, really providing more input and data as to where we currently stand as an organization.

Right?

And so now we're looking at where do we want to be as an organization, and then how are we going to get there?

That's going to be the most important thing that we talk about over the next couple of hours and then whatever time we take tomorrow to get to where we need to be.

So that's really going to be the key thing.

Is one you have a good understanding of where we are, but then two, now it's going to be where is it that we want to be as an organization, and then two, again, those budget realities.

How are we going to get there?

So I think the mayor really sums it up really well with the story about Maria.

And so the affordability you'll see at the top of this slide here.

No, we did not coordinate this.

I did not know if he was going to share that story.

But it's something that we hear a lot about.

Um mayor city council, city manager, myself, when we do a lot of community uh presentations.

We hear a lot about the affordability factor.

So a lot of things we've talked about with the council, we have obviously revenue limitations not only locally, but also with what's imposed on us by the state.

So there's some challenges there.

Um but as I said a few weeks ago, where there are challenges, there are opportunities.

So it's up to us to have the discussions about what those opportunities are.

We continue to see increase in labor costs, a lot of discussion this morning about a workforce and unemployment and what we're doing to attract new jobs.

Those costs never go down.

Labor costs will only continue to go up.

Again, something that we need to focus on again as we're thinking about really shaping the future of our organization.

Some of the other things we'll talk a little bit more about these, but again, some of the big cost drivers that we need to think about, long-term liabilities, and so not just looking at current things that we have as far as cost drivers, but always looking at the long term.

So whether it's a long-term contractual obligation, whether it's how we manage the city's debt and our finances, or how we manage our pension.

We had a little bit of discussion about that this morning as well, to ensure that we have properly funded pension programs for all of our city employees.

This slide, I I use this quote.

I I love this quote because I think it really sums up kind of what we need to start thinking about is that we can't be afraid to take take risks.

Obviously, they have to be very thoughtful, very strategic, very calculated risk.

But I don't believe that we can move forward unless we are bold and take action.

You heard some of the things the council members shared this morning and the you know why they choose to be here, and it's that bold action that's gonna take whatever we need to get to where we end up at the end of the strategic planning session tomorrow.

So looking at the couple of points on some of the pillars again.

So these are some of the discussion points, some of the things that we should be thinking about over the next day or so and longer if we need to.

As we talk about economic mobility, focusing on the city as a large employer.

So one of the top ten largest employers that we have on what the city can do to contribute to help the employment in the area.

We provide thousands of thousands of job opportunities at every level, and so as the city as one of the targets that we've implemented, but as the city continues to move to increasing our minimum wage, something that we want to continue to strive to.

Currently, we're at $15.75 an hour.

We've made tremendous progress in the last couple of years.

Um actually in the past year and a half or so, we've increased it pretty dramatically, but we still have a long way to go.

But compared to the state minimum wage, we're more than double as an organ organization.

So it really starts with the city setting the tone and setting uh the example for others to follow.

Uh don't want to repeat a lot of what you all have already heard, but there are a lot of different policies that we can utilize, utilize as well that are in the works to be refreshed or revised.

So our economic development policies currently under revision, our infill policy, the housing strategies going forward, so a lot of opportunities to take advantage of revising and refreshing those policies over the next several months.

One of the things that we talked a little bit about as well, and so I talked about the revenue limitations.

We have some revenue sources that aren't going to last forever, and so they have an end date, and so our economic development or a portion of our economic development funding will expire in 2036.

So you're saying, well, that's 10 years down the road.

You know, why are we talking about that today?

We're focusing on the next two years.

Again, because we need to make sure that we're being very strategic in how we're utilizing those dollars because again, um, 10 years from now, we don't want to be kicking ourselves saying, Oh, we should have thought about this, we should have thought about that, or invested in this and not so much in that.

So, again, it's important that we're taking that long-term approach to developing the strategic plan.

Public safety, obviously, one of the most important, or if not the most important pillar.

We know you ask anybody who lives in El Paso, why do you live in El Paso?

It's because it's a safe community, friendly community.

So we need to ensure that we're continuing to be competitive when it comes to compensation for our uh first responders or police and fire departments.

But with that comes the responsibility to ensure that we're not making contractual obligations above and beyond the revenue that we have to fund the city's budget, because we have other priorities as well that we need to ensure that we have that budget flexibility to be able to fund those items as well.

And so this slide is going to be very important.

We're currently under uh or will be under negotiations with our fire union for a new collective bargaining agreement.

Again, this will more than likely end up being a four-year commitment or contractual obligation.

So, again, very very important that we get it right to where one, we're able to be competitive, that two, we're not limiting the city's flexibility of managing the budget going forward.

I'm gonna join Yvette Hernandez's uh party on the street infrastructure.

Again, we hear it you know every day, street condition, you social media, you see articles, news coverage, potholes, um, different street issues, current strategies are not sustainable, and what we have to actually improve the condition of the streets.

So, we really again going back to what I mentioned, the real risk is not doing anything, or you can say uh doing the same thing over and over and expecting different outcomes.

No, that's not going to work.

That's not a real strategy.

Our city facilities, so maintaining all of the city facilities that we have.

We've continued to expand and add more, whether it's new police stations, new fire stations, uh new health facilities.

With those obviously come additional costs that are gonna uh be required to maintain those facilities.

The city has aging infrastructure that uh has been deferred for many, many years.

Um we've had instances where we've had to actually close facilities.

Uh, fortunately for us, we've uh been able to include some money in the annual budget to be able to address some issues proactively, however, it's not at the level that we need to be at uh to properly maintain those facilities.

Quite of life.

So obviously, very very important that we're providing a wide range of services through approach and recreation department.

Um you can add uh museums and the programs that they provide.

So one of the things that we're looking at is the cost recovery, and so as the city's costs continue to go up.

The city has now been looking at increasing fees for those services as well.

But we're gonna be very thoughtful because not every service should be 100% cost recovery.

We know that, and so we're currently working on a policy or philosophy that'll come back to the council here in the near future to really start looking at at what levels and what type of services should we be recovering?

Uh 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%, whatever the case may be.

So that'll help us get a plan in place to where we're actually again assuring that consistent level of service.

And then finally, good governance.

Um, you heard a little bit about this from Ms.

Gera as well.

Program based budgeting is really shifting and changing the way that we talk about the city's budget, making it easier for your everyday citizen to understand and look at the city's budget by all of the programs that we provide.

So not just 30 departments, but when you start to look at the over 250 services that we provide, really starts to change the narrative about oh, why doesn't the city do this or why doesn't it do that?

Instead, you'll see, oh, they do do it, maybe just not to the level currently with the funding that's available for those particular services.

Uh I talked a little bit about those fiscal levers.

So, what are the tools that we have to make some changes?

So, whether it's through those policies, uh looking at revenue enhancements.

So that's code for revenue opportunities.

So we have, as I mentioned, not just challenges, but there's uh plenty of opportunities out there for us to take advantage of.

Um and then finally, we talked a little bit about what the city can do to be more practice to change the narrative about El Paso as a community and what we are and who we are and what we can bring to the table.

And so uh whether it's through the social media by having uh younger people helping us out to make sure we're getting the message to the right people, a lot of work that we can do again to really change the perception and get more information out to the community.

So finally, what does this look like?

Um, hopefully by the end of day tomorrow, we'll have a clear direction on where we want to be as an organization, and the most importantly, some of those decision points that we're gonna have to address in order to get there.

So, with that, I'll now turn it back over to Julie.

All right, how are we feeling about day one?

Yes, okay.

So, as I mentioned earlier today, to it was all about strategy mapping, right?

So you heard the people piece from Leila, we got into community perspectives, um, and was able to talk about data, dialogue, how it all intersects, and what at the end of the day, um it yielded in terms of the proposed pillars, and so um we heard internal perspectives as well, ensuring that we incorporate that operational outlook as well within the decision making process tomorrow, and then we closed out with that financial perspective.

Those four elements are critical for any strategy mapping discussion.

But tomorrow we move into, as you all know, strategy development.

So this is just a preview, you all have it um as well on the backup and the deck, but for tomorrow we need to be ready with that high level of engagement, charge your social batteries overnight, because it's gonna be a lot of discussion as we get into our pillars, but really excited to hear um from everyone as we work through that closer look at each of our proposed pillars.

So this just gives you a quick snapshot and ready to move into during the afternoon conversations, formalizing the action plan that then becomes our two-year, our two-year plan.

So um, with that, I'll turn it back over for any additional um questions or comments as we wrap up the first day, and then if not, we can turn it over to to Miss Prine for anything further.

Are we doing okay?

Yeah, okay.

So special shout out to our youth advisory board members and your first strategic planning session.

Thank you all so much for being here, dedicating the time and energy, and we understand this is the starting point, right?

And so we'll be back to talk about our local action plan.

I know we'll be working alongside Stephanie Otero to ensure that we guide that process and that we're able to provide the support needed.

But with that, um, I'll turn it back over to Ms.

Crank.

Council, is there a motion to adjourn?

Youth Advisory Board, is there a motion to adjourn?

There's a motion and a second to adjourn the special meeting.

All in favor?

Anyone opposed?

And the special meeting for Monday, February twenty third, twenty twenty six is adjourned at four thirty-five p.m.

for both City Council and the Youth Advisory Board.

Thank you, everyone.