Initiated in 2019 by a of group of committed City of Wichita Council District 1 residents, businesses owners, and advocates, the District 1 Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) process was birthed. The group was motivated by a shared concern related to questions surrounding the impact of future neighborhood development projects on quality of life. Also, motivated by concerns of gentrification, resident and neighborhood business displacement, and public exclusion from the development process, these neighborhood advocates mobilized to be on the forefront of knowing about and understanding development projects occurring within the community. After numerous small group meetings to determine how to best engage key stakeholders, a decision was made to initiate an exploratory CBA Focus Group process of determining if the creation of a CBA template could be used as an economic development tool to support local community interests as well as increased public and private community investments.