The Year in Review: Philanthropy and the Aftermath of 9/11
PND - Philanthropy in the Aftermath of 9/11
With 9/11 still fresh in the minds of Americans, 2002
opened much as 2001 had closed: With charities, relief
agencies, service providers, and others working in the
glare of the media spotlight to distribute the roughly
$2 billion in grants and charitable contributions donated
in the months following the terrorist attacks on the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon.
It soon became apparent, however, that the crux of those
efforts was shifting from emergency cash assistance to
victims and other individuals directly affected by the
attacks to a focus on longer-term needs such as mental
health counseling, job placement services for displaced
workers, and aid for small businesses in Lower Manhattan.
As Joshua Gotbaum, then-director and CEO of the September
11th Fund, put it in March: "We know from Oklahoma City
that some needs do not arise for months or years. Given
the scale of this tragedy, we expect substantial ongoing
needs, and the September 11th Fund will help meet them."
Despite subsequent announcements of policy changes at the
American Red Cross and FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency), media and congressional criticism of the
relief efforts remained on a low boil until the first
anniversary of the attacks, when a spate of reports issued
by the likes of the Ford Foundation, the Red Cross, the
September 11th Fund, and the Foundation Center made it
clear that while charities and relief agencies struggled
early on to coordinate their activities, they performed
remarkably well considering the unprecedented nature and
massive devastation caused by the attacks.
Still, as the year came to a close, most parties involved
in the relief effort were receptive to the General Accounting Office's recommendation that FEMA convene a working
group of stakeholders, both private and public, to develop
and implement strategies for future disasters based on
lessons learned in the aftermath of September 11.
To browse the complete PND archive of 9/11-related news
and interviews, visit:
http://fdncenter.org/pnd/911/.
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