About partners for livable

Partners’ Efforts in Kansas City Yield Big Results: Culture, Tourism, and Economic 
Development Thrive at 18th and Vine
When the Kansas City Council introduced a multimillion dollar plan to transform the former center of 
commerce and culture for Kansas City’s African American community—the 18th and Vine area—into 
a tourist destination focusing on the area’s rich heritage of jazz and African American culture, the 
opportunities for neighborhood development appeared to be endless. However, political differences 
soon stalled the progress of this revitalization project.
enter Partners. In 1996, Partners was asked to coordinate a charrette to help eliminate the obstacles 
blocking the neighborhood’s renaissance. Partners convened experts in the area of neighborhood 
revitalization and generated an in-depth plan on how to make 18th and Vine a business magnet and 
a ‘must-stop’ location for tourists and city residents. As a result, the Jazz District Redevelopment 
Authority, a public/private partnership was formed to oversee the continued economic development of 
the area.
From the early stages of the process, Partners helped to identify two cultural institutions that could serve 
as linchpins of the neighborhoods development strategy: the American Jazz Museum, and the Negro 
Leagues Baseball Museum, which both opened their doors to the neighborhood in 1997. Seeing these 
institutions as cultural landmarks and community assets for all, Partners guided a strategy that would 
shine a spotlight on the 18th and Vine neighborhood—attracting tourists and economic development—
but at the same time preserving the historic cultural legacy that the makes the neighborhood unique.
After the Partners-led charrette, both the American Jazz Museum and the Negro Baseball Museum 
opened to great acclaim, and other businesses and cultural organizations were lured to the area. 
Although the recession placed bottom-line pressures on most businesses and organizations in the 
neighborhood, the area is once again thriving as a cultural center in Kansas City. Recently, the Negro 
Baseball Museum was profiled in the New York Times for having a year of surging attendance, high 
profile public events, and a record-breaking annual operating profit. And this success is snowballing into 
even greater investments into the museum, as it recently received $250,000 from the state of Missouri to 
finance further enhancements. 
For communities near and far, the lesson from 18th and Vine is that culture can hold great promise for 
neighborhoods seeking to find a spotlight of their own.

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Cultural Heritage Tourism
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