5,000 Voices: What Happens After the Signature?

What is 5,000 Voices actually for?

The short answer: not simply to collect 5,000 names.

RRCBA's 16 Community Standards were established on September 16, 2020. The original affirmation asks community members to acknowledge that these standards are important for the community's future.

The 2026 goal is to build a stronger system around that affirmation—one that helps people identify priorities and gives RRCBA clearer information for follow-through.

WHY 5,000?

5,000 is the campaign participation target. It is a scale goal for community engagement—not a statistical threshold and not proof that the responses represent every Wichita resident.

That distinction matters.

AFFIRMATION TELLS US WHAT PEOPLE SUPPORT

When someone affirms the standards, they are saying the shared framework matters: arts and culture, civic engagement, communication, jobs and training, education, food accessibility, financial literacy, health, housing, neighborhood quality of life and safety, reentry, collaboration, transportation, technology, Wichita State University relationships and youth.

PRIORITIES ADD ANOTHER LAYER

The current 5,000 Voices pathway also asks participants which issues matter most to them.

That does not turn the campaign into a scientific public-opinion poll. It does give RRCBA a way to look for patterns among the people who chose to participate.

If food access repeatedly appears among respondents, that is a signal worth examining. The same is true for education, housing, jobs, transportation, youth or any other standard.

Those participant patterns can help inform which topics RRCBA explains more clearly, where committee activation may be useful, what partnerships deserve exploration and which questions need deeper community follow-up.

THE PATHWAY

AFFIRM → PRIORITIZE → IDENTIFY PATTERNS → CONNECT → ACT

Affirm the standards. Identify the issues that matter most. Look for patterns among participants without pretending they represent everyone. Connect people and issues to the right committees, information or partners. Then create a clear next step.

WHAT 5,000 VOICES IS NOT

It is not an election result. It is not a scientific poll. It does not automatically create a policy, program or mandate. And reaching 5,000 does not make the work finished.

The real test is follow-through.

Can someone say, 'This matters to me,' and then understand what RRCBA learned, what happened next and how they can stay involved?

That is the standard.

Read the 16 Community Standards and add your voice at rrcba.com/5000voices.

There is no stability without solidarity and no solidarity without stability.