A Look Back at 2023 with Elizabeth L. Hillman

Your unwavering support of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum has helped us achieve great things — particularly during these past few years as our staff, volunteers, and entire community worked together to reopen and rebuild following pandemic closures.

I am proud to say that 2023 was a year filled with purposeful commemoration, education, and inspiration that touched the hearts of millions from across the country and around the world. It was a year of extraordinary growth, creativity, and community building made possible by the generous support of people like you. We installed a new exhibition and reopened our screening room with films about lesser known 9/11 stories, and expanded the impact of our commemorative and educational programs:

• Our solemn anniversary ceremony commemorated 22 years since the 9/11 attacks. More than 6,000 9/11 family members came together at the Memorial, while thousands more watched online to honor and remember those killed on 9/11.
• This year’s 9/11 Anniversary Digital Learning Experience – a 35-minute film featuring first-hand accounts from 9/11 by family members, first responders, survivors, and their children — reached 725,000 students and educators in all 50 states and 18 countries.
• Survivor Tree seedlings were presented to Waukesha, WI; Uvalde Memorial Hospital; and Little Rock, AR, to help these communities find strength and hope in the aftermath of tragedy.
• Over 2 million people visited the Museum, and over 10 million individuals paid tribute at the Memorial. The legacy of 9/11 resonates with a breadth of new audiences as we collectively uphold our promise to never forget.
• The 50th anniversary of the World Trade Center’s original dedication inspired “Towers Rising: Envisioning the World Trade Center Before and After 9/11” — our first new exhibition since the pandemic.

In 2024, millions more people will have the opportunity to experience this new exhibition and to participate in our annual educational and commemorative events.

I am humbled to lead an organization that every day sustains a place for remembrance, reflection, and learning. With your help, we can continue to keep our promise to never forget by telling the story of 9/11 and its continuing impact, shining a light on the heroism we saw response and the service it inspired, and honoring those killed.

Together, even in the darkest of times, we can remind one another about the power of resilience and build hope for the future.

I am truly excited for the year ahead and am grateful for the role you’re sure to play.

Elizabeth L. Hillman
President & CEO