RRCBA in Motion: City Pathways, The Refinery, and Tools You Can Use
RRCBA’s 16 Community Standards are rooted in the Community Themes adopted September 16, 2020. The question now is not whether the priorities exist on paper. The question is what they look like when they move into action.
That is the purpose of RRCBA in Motion: show what is moving, clearly separate confirmed resources from exploratory ideas, and make it easy for residents, businesses and organizations to take a next step.
Four numbers worth knowing
Signal | What it means |
16 Community Standards | Adopted Sept. 16, 2020 — the framework behind RRCBA’s work. |
5,000 Voices | A participation target for residents affirming the shared community standards. |
3 S/EBE benefits | For qualifying certified firms: net-15 payment terms, at least 10% of RFP scoring, and listing in the City directory. |
7 core committees | Working tables that help route community priorities into organized follow-through. |
The useful part of these numbers is not the numbers themselves. Each one is a doorway: a standard to organize around, a voice to count, a procurement benefit to use, or a committee to join.
Three things are happening at once
ACCESS — We are learning how public systems, procurement pathways and development tools actually work.
CONNECTION — We are strengthening the calendar, ADOS Business Directory and committee pathways so people can find information and one another.
FOLLOW-THROUGH — The Refinery is helping surface issues and connections; committees and partnerships are where useful ideas can move toward action.
1. City-facing work: turn systems into usable opportunity
RRCBA has been engaged in recent city-facing economic-development conversations, including the September 22 Wichita City Council workshop on Economic Development Guidelines. The goal is not attendance for its own sake. It is understanding which public tools can become practical pathways for residents and local businesses.
One pathway is already clear: the City of Wichita’s Procurement Portal is the central place for City contract opportunities. Businesses that want to bid on City contracts must register there. Registered vendors can view solicitations, respond to bids and upload relevant documents.
The City’s Small & Emerging Business Enterprise (S/EBE) program also provides three concrete benefits to qualifying businesses: net-15 payment terms instead of the City’s general net-30 terms, a minimum 10% of RFP evaluation scoring, and listing in the City’s S/EBE Directory.
RRCBA is also following up on exploratory conversations around expensive barriers faced by food entrepreneurs — including affordable space, renovations, ventilation, grease traps and other commercial food equipment. Those concepts are not announced City programs or approved commitments. The work is to determine what is feasible, who controls which tools, and what could realistically move forward.
2. The Refinery: conversation is only the first step
Session 001 focused on Wichita’s food ecosystem. It surfaced the tension between affordability, quality, health and profitability; opportunities for stronger local sourcing; and the value of testing small demand-versus-supply pilots before making larger infrastructure investments.
Session 002 focused on community development, ownership and economic opportunity. It surfaced a different challenge: Wichita has significant people, institutions and neighborhood assets, but fragmentation and weak handoffs can keep those assets from producing ownership, mobility and durable opportunity.
That is why The Refinery is structured around three questions: What is? What can be? What should be? The Refinery is not a decision-making body. It is a community research-and-development table. The real test begins after the table: what gets connected, routed, tested or changed?
3. Use the infrastructure: know what is happening and who is here
The Community Calendar is intended to reduce dependence on word of mouth and social-media algorithms by giving people one place to find community meetings, events, opportunities and important dates.
The ADOS Business Directory is intended to make local businesses easier to find, support, hire, refer and collaborate with. The value is not the list itself. The value is stronger connections and better handoffs.
5,000 Voices: connect priorities to people and action
All of this still comes back to the 16 Community Standards. The 5,000 Voices goal is a participation target — not a claim of statistical representation.
The pathway is simple: Voice → Priority → Committee → Connection → Action.
An affirmation should not end as another name in a database. When someone identifies a priority, the goal is to connect that person to the people, information and work already moving around that issue.
Choose your door
Resident? Add your voice. Business owner? Explore the directory and City procurement pathway. Organization? Strengthen referrals. Want to know what is happening? Use the calendar. Want to help solve a specific problem? Join the committee or workstream closest to it.
RRCBA in Motion will keep documenting the work with one standard: meetings are not the outcome. Useful movement, stronger connections and measurable follow-through are.
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