Reports & Publications

In our 37th year as an organization helping to empower communities with the tools to put them on the map as leaders in livability, Partners for Livable Communities is pleased to present this updated publication on cultural heritage tourism. As the tourism industry has boomed in the decades since Partners for Livable Communities began its cultural heritage tourism initiatives, communities have become increasingly eager to find ways attract tourists and capture the dollars they bring with them. However, when hard times come, it can be a challenge to persuade those among us of the benefits of preserving culture, heritage, and their artifacts from the past.

This guide represents the culmination of our experience and knowledge on an issue that has such a great potential for community development. Our hope is to demonstrate how cultural heritage is not just something to preserve for future generations, but is in fact an asset that can be leveraged to bring real economic benefits to the community.

Robert McNulty, president of Partners, can come to your community to speak about the necessity of developing a cultural heritage tourism strategy as well as share best practices and resources learned from Partners' decades of experience in this arena.

Download Cultural Heritage Tourism

As part of the City Leaders Institute, Partners developed a Community Report Card to help civic leaders and citizens think about their community’s strengths and weaknesses in Aging in Place. The report card assesses 11 components and grades the community on how well it is doing in each component of agelessness.

• Community Design and Planning
• Arts, Culture and Lifelong Learning
• Housing
• Workforce Development
• Transportation and Mobility
• Local Leadership
• Health and Wellness
• Civic Engagement and Volunteer Opportunities
• Sustainability
• Public Safety and Services
• Equity of Opportunity

Penn State University releases Intergenerational Contact Zones: A Compendium of Applications, which features "Culture as Animator of Intergenerational Gathering Places," a chapter written by Partners' President Robert McNulty. 

One of the driving question behind the publication is: How do we create great settings for intergenerational engagement? The compendium draws attention to the concept of "intergenerational contact zones" and its significance for creating livable, inclusive, and relationship-focused community settings for people of generations.

The "Culture as Animator of Intergenerational Gathering Places" chapter highlights the value of arts and cultural institutions for intergenerational gathering places. Success depends not only on their specific design, but also on how they "animate" diverse gatherings of young and old to associate and mingle. Through this programming, they become "civic glue" and reward any location.

Each of the compendium's 13 chapters highlight a specific application of Intergenerational Contact Zones (ICZs). The focus is on creating community settings that welcome age- and generation- diverse populations, provide opportunities for meaningful intergenerational engagement, and, in some ways, enrich community life.

Click here to read or download Intergenerational Contact Zones: A Compendium of Applications.

Partners' Community Technical Assistance program is designed to support public/private partnership in goal setting and visioning to help design action plans and to assist civic leaders in implementation.

For over 40 years, Partners has helped client communities improve their quality of life, and bring about better living conditions, economic expansion, and social growth. Partners believes that a high quality of life is the foundation for creating safe neighborhoods, satisfied residents, and business investment.

The Community Technical Assistance Program offers guidance on becoming more livable places. Partners comes to you and provides the training, stimulation, brainstorming, and the process of how to go from planning to action for your community problem solving. Partners works with a wide body of civic leadership, including local governments and elected officials, chambers of commerce, community developers, cultural organizations, and community-based organizations.

Download the Community Technical Assistance Guide to learn more.

Partners compiled a collection of best practices of traditional community institutions incorporating health and wellness into their agenda and programming to improve community health. The best practices focus on improving the health of at least one of three constituencies: distressed communities, at-risk youth, and the vulnerable elderly.

Examples of institutions include arts and culture organizations, botanical gardens, community development corporations (CDCs), faith-based organizations, libraries, museums, public markets, and zoos.

Click here to download Creating the Healthy Community - Using All Assets: Institutions as Fulcrums of Change