Twenty-five years after the September 11th terror attacks, all of us at Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE) join our city and nation in remembering the 2,977 men, women and children who were lost on that terrible day. We will always be grateful to the thousands of first responders who gave so much in the days, months and years after the attacks.
Every year at this time, we pause to reflect on how 9/11 impacted New York City and the Chinatown community. The tragedy transformed Lower Manhattan and it profoundly shaped AAFE’s evolving mission over the past quarter century.
Emergency Response
Immediately after the attacks, AAFE’s Chinatown office became a rest stop for many who made their way from the towers and the surrounding area. In the following days, the community came together to support relief workers at Ground Zero, donating face masks, food and water, and other contributions to meet the relief workers’ many needs.
Beginning on the evening of September 11th, AAFE staff members provided Chinese translation at downtown relief centers, serving as a critical bridge between overwhelmed government agencies and the Chinatown community. They helped terrified local residents, some of whom had lost loved ones, navigate relief options, file claims and access emergency aid.
AAFE’s Chinatown office assisted thousands of residents seeking support. Our staff helped community members navigate the ever-changing information from government, access disaster unemployment assistance and survivor benefits, victim assistance and counseling, and temporary housing. To make arduous application procedures more accessible, AAFE organized multilingual workshops with participation from city, state and federal officials. In response to widespread anxiety around changing federal policies, AAFE hosted a public forum on post-9/11 immigration policies, attended by more than 300 people.
Small Business Support
Located just 10 blocks from the World Trade Center site, Chinatown faced immediate economic crisis. The entire neighborhood below Canal Street was sealed off by security checkpoints, blocking vehicular traffic and cutting off access to local merchants. The already diminished Chinatown garment industry was decimated, thousands of workers losing their jobs. Restaurants and shops reported a 70% drop in business.
The team at AAFE’s small business affiliate, Renaissance Economic Development Corp., knew they had to act fast. Government at all levels overlooked Chinatown, focusing on the physically devastated blocks surrounding Ground Zero. On September 21, Renaissance established an Emergency Loan Fund for small businesses to meet their payroll and other expenses, closing the first loan on October 4. The fund was started with only $150,000, but its existence sent a strong message to city leaders: Chinatown was suffering and needed immediate financial assistance.
More funding from the public and private sectors eventually materialized. Renaissance distributed $11 million in emergency loans to 238 small businesses, saving more than 1,500 jobs and helping to stabilize the Chinatown community.
Residential Grant Program
To help stabilize households, AAFE partnered with the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) as a designated agency for the Residential Grant Program. AAFE opened its Park Row office in Chinatown to assist walk-in applicants in English, Chinese and Spanish. Through grassroots outreach, 75,000 applications were distributed. The team ran the program hotline that operated in three languages. AAFE also advocated and helped refine program eligibility rules to ensure that more families in the impacted zone could access funds.
When the LMDC announced its first batch of approved grants in October of 2002, it noted, “Over one third.. (went) to senior citizens in the Lower East Side and Chinatown area as a result of an early outreach campaign launched by Asian Americans for Equality.”
AAFE played a vital role in connecting residents across Lower Manhattan to the LMDC’s disbursement of $217 million to 39,000 households, helping restore residential stability.
The Rebuild Chinatown Initiative
By mid-2002, relief distribution across Lower Manhattan remained uneven and people in Chinatown began to speak out about the lack of government aid for the neighborhood. The community continued to struggle with devastating job losses and paralyzing access restrictions. In response, AAFE launched the Rebuild Chinatown Initiative, a community-based planning project meant to give residents, small business owners and other stakeholders a direct voice in the neighborhood’s recovery.
Through the initiative, nearly 2,000 surveys from over 50 nonprofits, religious institutions, trade organizations, family associations and health clinics were collected, which was followed by a series of public forums. The Rebuild Chinatown Initiative published two comprehensive reports, “The Community Speaks,” which documented public priorities, followed by, “America’s Chinatown: A Community Plan,” The strategy outlined eight key initiatives covering topics such as affordable housing, jobs, small business vitality, cultural preservation and waterfront access.
As a result of Rebuild Chinatown’s recommendations, approximately $100 million was invested by public and private funders to strengthen Chinatown.
Looking to the Future
September 11th altered all of our lives in Lower Manhattan and beyond, and redefined AAFE’s mission and priorities. The response to the tragic events that day showed that true community recovery requires grassroots trust and long-term collaborative planning. Twenty-five years later, many of the issues revealed after 9/11 linger and a new generation of challenges has emerged. But the lessons learned back then are still relevant today. Recovery must prioritize community needs, and vulnerable communities must never be overlooked.
Today, we remember.