By Jessi Scopp
The Tribute Visitors’ Center is beginning to take shape. In the past few months, the Tribute team has made great accomplishments formulating the mission and guiding principles for the program. The mission statement encompasses the essence of the Center.
“Tribute Center embodies the need to gather at the World Trade Center site, connect to the people and places, and reflect on the events of February 26, 1993 and September 11, 2001.”
Tribute’s location at 120 Liberty Street on the southern edge of the World Trade Center site will receive thousands of visitors who travel to Lower Manhattan each year. Our presence at the site will make an impact on how the events are understood and remembered by those who come here to learn over the next five years.
The Association is honored to welcome Sally Yerkovich as the founding President of Tribute. She brings an enormous amount of experience to the project as the current President and CEO of the New Jersey Historical Society. As a downtown resident, Sally brings an essential passion and understanding in addition to her professional background. Our Project Manager Michael Kuo is an urban planner who has been involved in the WTC rebuilding process from the beginning as a family member who lost his father on 9/11. Michael also served as the Project Manager of the Municipal Art Society’s Imagine NY Project and as a member of the LMDC’s Family Advisory Council and Memorial Mission Statement Drafting Committee.
In addition, the Association is proud to announce that it has retained the services of BKSK Architects for Lead Architectural Services for Tribute. A pro bono consulting team from McKinsey & Company is developing the volunteer and docent program to guide visitors around the WTC site. The design of the Center has been initiated by a working group of professionals from the 9/11 community. The group represents a wide variety of backgrounds and expertise in museum design, planning and architecture and includes family members, a survivor and a downtown resident.
As part of our continued outreach, we will be holding workshops to collect feedback from the 9/11 community. Through participation of the 9/11 community, we hope to educate visitors on the many issues surrounding the attacks with sensitivity and reverence. We encourage your participation and feedback in development of the Center. To attend workshops, please return the enclosed reply card or visit www.911families.org.
