Ivanhoe Redux: The Importance of Interaction and Place in Growing Community

Marie-Alice L'Heureux* (University of Kansas)

How does a neighborhood condemned for decades as a haven for drugs and violence successfully reinvent itself? In 2018, after years of fighting crime, drugs, poverty, gun violence, illegal dumping, condemned housing, and vacant lots, the Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council (INC) of Kansas City, Missouri will complete the 39th Street Gateway project—the first neighborhood-driven development in this largely African-American community—fourteen duplex and eight senior houses, all sold and owner-occupied. The long-time first director retired in December 2017, and the new leaders plan to expand housing and revitalize 39th Street’s commercial and retail functions. This research aims to help them strategize to develop their next ten-year plan.

The ‘What Works Collaborative,’ a foundation-supported research partnership (started in 1968 under the Johnson Administration) publishes research on a wide range of urban issues. The guide to Building Successful Neighborhoods published in 2011 helps residents and professionals strategize effectively to turn neighborhoods around. My research compares the strategies illustrated in the case studies in Building Successful Neighborhoods with the paths taken by the leadership of the Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council in the past, their aspirations for the future, and the results. Using data from three sources: 1) six years of participant observation data of the neighborhood’s activities and serving on the INC’s Housing and Economic Development Committee, 2) an in-depth study of the physical and economic changes in Ivanhoe since 1990, and 3) the 2018 Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) health assessment study of the neighborhood, I present the development history of Ivanhoe, the economic and health outcomes, what has worked in the neighborhood compared to the strategies of the ‘What Works Collaborative,’ and possibilities for the future. I also report on the collaboration between the new INC leadership and local architectural design studios that are helping the neighborhood visualize its aspirations to promote investment in the community.