Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center

Hicksville High School, Hicksville UFSD
Charity Board Member, Children’s Hope India 3 (CH3)

The Nassau County Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center (HMTC) was founded in 1992 by a group of Holocaust survivors, elected officials and interfaith clergy. Each year, the Center reaches tens of thousands of individuals across Long Island and the New York metro area with its message of tolerance. Through the addition of videoconferencing technology, the Center now also delivers that message across the country and around the globe. 

The HMTC offers a wide variety of seminars and education programs that explore the connections between intolerance and bullying in all its forms. It also offers sensitivity programs for police and military, and provides courses to law firms, hospitals, colleges, and health and human services. The Center's lessons combine history, social justice, ethics and human rights and apply them to a variety of issues including genocide, slavery, gay rights, hazing, diversity and stereotyping. 

The Center's Holocaust education programs are designed to illuminate, inform and educate people about the events that led to the genocides that occurred during World War II. The HMTC uses that tragic history as a platform to discuss the destructive power of institutionalized hatred in the ongoing genocides of today's world. All programs are aligned with the New York State standards and common core values and are available to all students from the fourth grade through the college level. 

The HMTC's Tolerance and Anti-Bullying workshops explore the roles of Victim, Perpetrator, Bystander and Upstander and inspire reflection upon the connections between choices and actions. Workshops encourage students to be Upstanders -- to stand up for what is right and not sit back and ignore injustice when they see it happening. 

The Center also delivers professional development to countless educators across Long Island, designed to foster understanding and promote classroom instruction. Programs are taught by trained facilitators and are enhanced through interactive small- and large-group strategy sessions. 

"The Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center is founded on the premise that the lessons learned in the past should guide us to a better future," wrote the Center's award nominator.