On the eve of the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the New York City Council announced a $1 million allocation on the 3rd of September to collaborate with the 9/11 National Memorial Museum to expand educational programs. The focus will be on funding eighth-grade students in New York City’s public schools to visit the museum for free, as well as providing online tours, teacher training, and other educational resources.
City Council Speaker Julie Menin and several council members held an event at the World Trade Center site on that day and announced this investment outside the Oculus transportation hub in the World Trade Center complex. Menin expressed that as more young people have not personally experienced the events of 9/11, it is increasingly important for the next generation to understand what happened that day and the unity and spirit of rebuilding that New York showed afterwards.
According to the plan, about 75% of the $1 million allocation will be used to fund approximately 20,000 eighth-grade students from public schools across the city to visit the 9/11 National Memorial Museum for free. The cost of the audio-guided tours per student can exceed $23. The remaining $250,000 will be invested in online education, including providing virtual tours for students who cannot visit in person, as well as offering teaching materials and professional training for teachers.
Menin stated that she hopes students will not only remember the casualties of the terror attacks but also understand the spirit of cooperation shown by New Yorkers at that time. “I want them to understand the unity shown on that day and the acts of kindness, sympathy, and bravery,” she said. In the weeks and months following 9/11, New York City was highly united, and “we need to regain that unity.”
For Menin, “Never Forget” also holds personal significance. At the time of the 9/11 attacks, she lived in Lower Manhattan, and her restaurant was severely damaged when the Twin Towers collapsed. She hopes that more young people can step into the memorial museum and learn about the stories of the victims, first responders, and ordinary New Yorkers.
Beth Hillman, President and CEO of the 9/11 National Memorial Museum, stated that currently about 100 million Americans were either not born or too young to remember at the time of 9/11; all students in New York City from preschool to high school were born after 9/11, making educating the next generation particularly vital.
The museum will also launch the “9/11 Anniversary Digital Learning Experience” this year, including a 35-minute on-demand video narrated in the first person about the terrorist attacks and their subsequent impact, with real-time interaction with museum staff available. The museum will continue to provide training for teachers in grades three through twelve.
Additionally, Menin is also advocating for a $4 million allocation to the city’s Department of Investigation to complete the World Trade Center site environmental toxic substance report. After the event, city officials held a wreath-laying ceremony to commemorate the nearly 3,000 victims of the 9/11 attacks.