The Center City Neighborhood is situated in an area that has a strong institutional presence. Many of these institutions are faith-based and have a commitment to addressing the social needs confronting the downtown Wichita area. A great deal of energy has been gathered in the form of C.O.R.E.; yet the ongoing challenge is to gain the trust and confidence of neighborhood residents (present and future) who may see many of these institutions as primarily serving parishioners who reside outside of Center City.

Though C.O.R.E.'s attention is focused on ways to create a new neighborhood environment through increased housing/residential development, the organization is keenly aware of the critical importance of having a social support infrastructure and grass-roots neighborhood organization capacity in place that allows for community development that goes beyond bricks and mortar. Decades of trials and failures throughout the country have produced many lessons that just building houses without finding ways to help build individuals and families to be self-sufficient and positive contributors to our society is not good for the economy or for the persons who are to by served by such efforts.

In many ways, community development efforts in Center City are reflections of C.O.R.E. representatives' individual and collective social ministry to the neighborhood. This is a vision that church members of C.O.R.E. see as part of their mission to serve, while at the same time realize that the job is too big for C.O.R.E. alone and will need the involvement of a variety of community stakeholders in a truly inclusive and collaborative process. To that end, there is an opportunity for many of the existing institutions in the neighborhood to play a role in helping to improve the area.

There are three distinct components of community development that are significant for addressing many of the issues cited by Center City stakeholders. Although every neighborhood is unique and has its own set of unique challenges and opportunities, the following points can provide a framework for organizing community development efforts.