Victim Compensation Fund

New York City is incredibly diverse, so it’s no surprise that many people who contributed to the WTC rescue and clean-up efforts, as well as many members of the lower Manhattan community, were originally from somewhere else. Among the thousands of people who were exposed to the air downtown during the WTC clean-up are many […]

For years we’ve heard that the Victim Compensation Fund will eventually run out of money. Many people with minor illnesses chose not to file claims because they didn’t want to take money from those who were sicker or “deserved it more.” Now that the VCF has been fully funded and permanently extended, that is no […]

The VCF has a few restrictions around “timely filing,” which is the amount of time that they allow to pass between a claimant learning of a diagnosis and filing with the fund. Recently, because so many people were not aware they qualified for the fund, the VCF updated their policy on timeliness to make it […]

The Victim Compensation Fund accepts a few different kinds of proof of presence, but for most claimants, the best evidence is two affidavits. These affidavits should come from people, preferably non-family members, who personally witnessed you in the NYC Exposure Zone between September 11, 2001 and May 30, 2002. To be accepted as proof, affidavits […]

Filling out an affidavit to support a residency claim for the NYC Exposure Zone is similar to filling one out for any other purpose, but these affidavits should include a couple of extra facts: Your exact address during the time you were living in the area. The specific time period that you lived at that […]

As a first responder, you are able to access monitoring from the WTC Health Program whether or not you are sick. Going to your yearly monitoring visits, even if you’re healthy now, is helpful from a research perspective and is also a great way to make sure that you get certified immediately should you develop […]