Tuesday's Children

Project Summary

Spurred on by the strong desire of 9/11 families to "Let Our Past Change the Future," ICAP's funding has enabled Tuesday's Children expand their efforts to help others through troubled times including helping families of veterans from post-9/11 U.S. military operations and communities recovering from the December 14, 2012 tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT.

ICAP's donations to Tuesday's Children have been vital in keeping services available to the 9/11 community, particularly the 3,000 children who sadly lost a parent. ICAP has supported a range of services, including counselling and mental health services, mentoring for children ages 7-18, educational and career guidance for teenagers, leadership training for young adolescents, and parenting and life management programmes for adults. ICAP's funding has also helped to expand Tuesday's Children's Helping Heals programme and Parenting Programmes.

Tuesday's Children provides direct services to more than 6,000 beneficiaries and continuous outreach to approximately 10,000 individuals, including bereaved 9/11 families, families of 9/11 responders, post-9/11 veteran families, and children from around the world impacted by violent extremism.

Helping Heals

Tuesday's Children's Helping Heals is a service-learning initiative that gives young people the transformational and rewarding experience of giving back to other communities in need. With support from ICAP, this initiative has connected young people and families impacted by 9/11 with community service projects and disaster relief programmes. Research indicates that giving something back to the community helps improve psychological mental health. Tuesday's Children has developed international, domestic and local community service programmes for both teenagers and adults. While making a measurable difference in local communities, participants also learn craftsmanship skills from qualified professionals providing hands-on guidance and education.

Over the past few years, children and adults have participated in Helping Heals volunteer efforts in communities across the country. They have also participated in New York metropolitan area community service projects that assisted with the recovery efforts after Superstorm Sandy, as well as offering support to survivors of the Newtown, CT mass shooting.

Parenting Programmes

ICAP funding also supports Tuesday's Children's programmes for parents of children impacted by traumatic events and tragedies. The charity provides interactive workshops and seminars for bereaved 9/11 families, families of the World Trade Center rescue and recovery workers, and families of post-9/11 U.S. military veterans. Throughout the year, Tuesday's Children offers parenting programmes, life-management programmes, mental health services, mentoring, psycho-educational workshops, college and career advisement, wellness days, family engagement events and other support services as needed.

Data shows that children who have experienced a loss continue to grieve throughout their lives, and reactions in later years can be as significant and severe as in early bereavement. For families of those who responded to 9/11 and worked at the World Trade Center site, exposure to trauma and chronic health conditions have often disrupted normal parenting activities and children need additional support. Families of veterans from recent U.S. military operations face many of the same problems as the 9/11 families.