WHEREAS, Military facilities tend to be physically, socially, and politically isolated from surrounding communities, and have no established link to state or local levels of strategic planning at the executive, operational, or tactical levels; and

WHEREAS, Crisis tends to dictate decisions among military facilities and surrounding communities, creating competition with little positive benefit; and

WHEREAS, Effective strategic coordination does not exist between localities, interest groups, the State of California, and the United States Department of Defense; and

WHEREAS, The establishment of coordination between localities, interest groups, the State of California, and the United States Department of Defense is a top priority; and

WHEREAS, The Office of Military Base Retention and Reuse (OMBRR) within the California Technology, Trade, and Commerce Agency, seeks to foster a network of influence among military facilities, surrounding communities, and state and federal government agencies, and to develop resources to facilitate positive and collaborative action on specific defense related topics of interest statewide; and

WHEREAS, The OMBRR is working with the Office of Economic Adjustment within the United States Department of Defense to obtain a grant for the purpose of developing a model to enhance the long-term relationships between military facilities and the communities that surround these facilities; and

WHEREAS, The OMBRR will also sponsor several two-day “Partnerships for Preparedness” symposiums around the state that are designed to facilitate dialogue between military facilities, surrounding communities, and state and federal government agencies that best utilize the political process and cooperation at the local level; and

WHEREAS, These “Partnerships for Preparedness” symposiums will be the first of their kind in the nation and encourage participants to work towards obtainable resolutions to complex issues arising between military bases and surrounding communities; and

WHEREAS, These “Partnerships for Preparedness” symposiums will provide an opportunity for communities to shape their future in a wide range of areas, through continuous discussion and implementation of specific action plans developed at a local level rather than from a state or federal mandate; and

WHEREAS, These “Partnerships for Preparedness” symposiums will build lasting relationships between California’s military bases, a myriad of private and public organizations, the United States Department of Defense, and the defense industry; and

WHEREAS, These symposiums will facilitate grass roots momentum for collaborative action, with state and federal support, for creating coalitions from their participants that can respond to future community challenges; and

WHEREAS, Through these events, military bases and their surrounding communities will be able to identify a common vision, provide a forum for dialogue, and facilitate agreement on actions to ensure our national security and enhance the quality of life in our local communities; now, therefore, be it