How Carnegie Corporation Responded to 9/11

On September 17, 2001, the Corporation’s Board approved a grant of $10 million to New York City’s relief efforts, supporting a variety of groups providing for social and educational needs in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Among other projects, this grant, in addition to providing assistance for teachers, schools and school libraries affected by 9/11, helped WNYC Radio, and WNET, Channel 13, both of whom had lost their antennas atop the World Trade Center, as well as other public broadcasters in New York and nationally to resume their critical work of keeping the public informed about unfolding events.  The Corporation’s Board later approved a grant of $4.5 million, in memory of the 9/11 victims, to support the book collections at the New York Public Library and at the Brooklyn and Queens libraries. Each book purchased through this fund had a bookplate commemorating those who were lost on September 11th, so that years from now, new readers would not forget those thousands who were subjected to a senseless death at the hands of terrorists. The Corporation made an additional grant of $90,000 to Asian Americans for Equality to revitalize Chinatown’s economy because that community was particularly devastated by the economic toll of the tragedy. At the same time, in memory of the men, women and children killed at the Pentagon on September 11th, 2001, Carnegie Corporation gave $1 million to the District of Columbia College Access Program, which works directly with Washington’s public school system and its students to enable D.C. public high school students to enroll in and graduate from college.