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NYC RECOVERS was a network of organizations that formed in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center. This collaboration brought together hundreds of agencies, organizations, businesses, and individuals with the goal of helping New Yorkers heal after the massive trauma our community had suffered. NYC RECOVERS proposed that a trauma experience collectively, called for collective recovery.
During the 15 months following 9/11, NYCR promoted the Year of Recovery. Throughout the year, partner organizations focused their collective recovery efforts by engaging in four tasks: remembering, respecting, learning, and connecting. These tasks provided direction while allowing each organization to devise their own recovery agenda, based on the needs of their constituents. As the year progressed, we learned that community mobilization for trauma recovery was a tool that could reach populations that would otherwise go without any support in recovery: children, elders, individuals who were traumatized but did not fit into the categories of heroes or victims.
Entering the second year of mourning, NYC RECOVERS took inspiration from the work of Dr. Carl Bell of Chicago. As a psychiatrist serving a very poor community, he observed that children who participated in sports had a chance to learn to keep trying even when the odds were slim. In sports lingo, they learned to have “heart.” This is life lesson, was the basis for the second year initiative: Take Heart. The Take Heart campaign, promoted events to help us find strength in our past experiences of overcoming struggle.
NYC RECOVERS was founded by Dr. Mindy Fullilove and Dr. Jennifer Stevens Madoff and staffed by Dr. Lourdes Hernandez Cordero and Mark Boutros. Our sponsors included The Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, Fountain of Youth/Fund for the City of New York, American Express Small Business Services, and Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities. Our partners included Northern Manhattan Community Voices Collaborative, Public Health Association of New York City, Agenda for Children Tomorrow, and the Department of Environmental Psychology at the Graduate Center of The City University of New York.
If you would like further information about NYC RECOVERS and our past activities, please contact Dr. Lourdes Hernandez Cordero or Mark Boutros at The Community Research Group, 212-740-7292.
Downloads
There are a series of Handouts suggesting ways that the Anniversary of September 11th can be commemorated in a healing way.
The files are in PDF format and require the use of Adobe Acrobat Reader 
 10 things you can do with children
10 things you can do for Adults
10 things you can do - in Spanish
Year of Recovery Final
Take a deep breath
Cooking
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