In the wake of the September 11th tragedy, the New York City Board of Education and Turnaround for Children formed The Partnership for Recovery in the New York City Schools to address the mental health needs of children and their families throughout the city. The Partnership was comprised of: hospitals; service providers; local and national experts in trauma, screening, and public health issues; educators; and philanthropists.

While the immediate aim of the Partnership was recovery, the needs it addressed were both long-term and universal. The Partnership was able to boost the capacity of schools and communities to respond to the mental health needs of children that arose at a time of crisis, and which continue to arise in children’s daily lives now.

Partnership accomplishments include:

• Initiated and administrated grants for mental health programming in schools.
• Responded with direct service to families in lower Manhattan neighborhoods through the New York Times 9/11 Neediest Fund’s Strength in Schools program.
• Administered a Mental Health Needs Assessment study to over 8,000 children in 101 schools throughout all five New York City boroughs under the leadership of Dr. Christina Hoven and the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.
• Planned and coordinated a universal crisis response team process under the leadership of the National Center for Children Exposed to Violence at the Yale University Child Study Center in schools citywide.
• Prepared and distributed crisis training materials and resource lists to school administrators and staff at citywide crisis team trainings.
• Identified and evaluated mental health resources throughout the city.