Community Benefits Agreements (CBA's)

Currently, the Coalition for Economic Justice and a handful of community groups are opening negotiations with the Erie County Harbor Development Corporation to obtain a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) he Canal Side Project to ensure the community's need are being met.

What are Community Benefits Agreements?

Community Benefits Agreements (CBA’s) are legally enforceable contracts between community groups and developers in which community groups promise to support the developers in seeking approvals, permits, or subsidies, and the developers promise to provide certain benefits to the surrounding community.

What are some benefits commonly included in CBA’s?
· Environmental considerations
· Living wage requirements
· First-source hiring preferences and job training
· Assurance of minority hiring
· Community voice in decision making
· Parks and child care centers
· Affordable housing

Why do we need a Community Benefits Agreement?

• CBA’s allow for community input into the planning and cultivation of development projects
• CBA’s prevent developers from making false promises in order to win support for their projects. With CBA’s, developers must deliver on the promises they make as there is a legally enforceable document to hold them accountable
• CBA’s put developers’ promises to the community in writing
• CBA’s allow governments to monitor and measure the good that these development projects are doing for their constituent communities
• CBA’s are private contracts. They achieve policy goals of providing living wages, making business more environmentally friendly, and holding government accountable for the subsidies it disperses without the need for legislation

LETS MAKE SURE THE CANALSIDE PROJECT WORKS FOR US!

learn more about CBA's at http://www.goodjobsfirst.org/pdf/cba2005final.pdf