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City Council Allocates $1 Million to Expand 9/11 School Programming

Officials say the funding will expand the 9/11 Memorial’s education programs to teach a generation that did not live through the attacks about their long-term effects.

Overview

  • The City Council, which approved the $1 million allocation Thursday, directed the money to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum to scale student outreach and education.
  • Council officials say most funds will underwrite free field trips for up to 20,000 students with a priority on eighth graders and will pay for audio guides and outreach to schools.
  • The grant will also cover educator training and support the museum’s Anniversary Digital Learning Experience, a 35-minute on-demand program that uses first-person accounts to reach students remotely.
  • City leaders announced the funding at a wreath-laying at the World Trade Center that followed ceremonies adding recently deceased FDNY members to memorial lists and recalling more than 600 responder deaths tied to 9/11-related illnesses.
  • The allocation is part of a broader slate of Council anniversary actions that include plans for red-and-blue street signs honoring fallen officers and a $4 million commitment for a Department of Investigation report on 9/11 environmental toxins, and it aims to lock educational outreach into the city’s long-term commemoration effort.