Prepared by Steve Zeitlin, Co-Director, City Lore
In collaboration with the Culture and Arts Policy Institute.
PARTNER WITH CIVIL SOCIETY TO ADVANCE A COMMUNITY-DRIVEN PROCESS TOWARD A PERMANENT NEW YORK CITY MEMORIAL HONORING THOSE WHO DIED DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND THE ESSENTIAL WORKERS WHO CARRIED THE CITY THROUGH IT.
At a moment when the federal government is actively minimizing and erasing the scale and consequences of COVID-19, New York City has a responsibility to preserve public memory. More than 50,000 New Yorkers died. Entire communities—particularly immigrant, working-class, Black, and Brown New Yorkers—absorbed disproportionate loss. A permanent memorial would serve not only as a site of mourning, but as civic infrastructure: a place to remember, to educate, and to affirm whose lives mattered.
Building on the Naming the Lost initiative, this effort would elevate an existing, deeply rooted practice of collective remembrance. Since 2020, artists and community groups across all five boroughs have created temporary memorials. From 2022–2025, more than 40 memorial panels were displayed annually at Green-Wood Cemetery and St. Mark’s Church on the Bowery, engaging over 50 community partners. This work has already demonstrated broad public resonance, cultural legitimacy, and sustained participation.
IMPACT
A permanent memorial process would counter pandemic erasure, honor the dead, and recognize the labor and sacrifice of frontline workers. It would strengthen civic trust by centering communities most affected, provide a durable public space for collective grief and education, and establish New York City as a national leader in ethical remembrance. Interim memorial installations—rotating annually during the March COVID anniversary—would build momentum, public visibility, and shared ownership while the permanent site is planned.
IMPLEMENTATION
The City would convene a formal advisory committee under the new administration to explore the location, form, and governance of a permanent memorial. The process would be community-led, working directly with the more than 50 cultural and community-based partners already engaged. As a bridge strategy, an interim traveling memorial—using the existing memorial panels—would be installed annually at Green-Wood Cemetery and rotate through Borough Presidents’ offices and other civic sites each March, sustaining public engagement during the planning phase.
KEY PARTNERS
Lead Cultural Partner: City Lore
Community Partners: Naming the Lost coalition (50+ CBOs and cultural groups)
Public Sector Champions: City Council Member Alexa Avilés; Manhattan Borough Historian
Sites & Hosts: Green-Wood Cemetery; St. Mark’s Church; Borough Presidents’ offices
Philanthropic Support: Mellon Foundation Monuments Project and allied funders.