We are Lower Manhattan's community organization, so all of our facilities are within a few blocks of the World Trade Center site. Our pool was badly damaged by falling debris, the schools were covered in ash, and the entire area was closed for national security and cleanup reasons. Our offices and new community center were declared off limits and Pier 25, our children's pier, became a dumping site for material from the WTC site.

As fate would have it, September 11, 2001 was also the opening date of Manhattan Youth's new offices and interim Community Center at 55 Warren Street. We had just installed a new computer lab and recreational facilities in a wonderful loft space just a few blocks from the World Trade Center. The staff was arriving for the first work day in the new space. Within an hour all our plans were in tatters.

Our community was traumatized and confused. We needed information, help and services, yet the government was preoccupied with necessary security and recovery tasks. On September 15 we organized the first post-9/11 gathering of residents. Over 1,000 people attended and Manhattan Youth was able to fill the leadership void, organizing the community and securing services for shopping, transportation and information.

The following week, students of P.S. 234, P.S. 150, P.S. 89 and I.S. 89 were reassigned to temporary schools and we made sure to continue our after school care programs wherever they were, providing comforting, familiar faces and routines in strange locations.

By December 1, we re-opened our offices and community center, offering teen programs and weekend activities as well as other programs. We added art therapy programs to aid children in recovering from the horrors they had experienced.

Our pool was badly damaged and unusable for months.
On September 11 our neighborhood literally became a war zone. The two pictures immediately above show P.S. 234.
9/11 Experience