Tribute WTC Visitor Center offers visitors to the World Trade Center site a place where they can connect with people from the September 11th community. Through walking tours, exhibits and programs, the Tribute WTC Visitor Center offers "Person to Person History," linking visitors who want to understand and appreciate these historic events with those who experienced them.

Tribute WTC Visitor Center is a project of the September 11th Families' Association, a 501(C)3 non-profit corporation. The organization was created by Marian Fontana, Fire Department families and others in the immediate aftermath of September 11th. The mission was to establish a viable communications network for families of victims of February 26, 1993 and September 11, 2001. Respected and trusted, the Association grew, providing information resources. The Association publishes newsletters devoted to important issues of interest to the entire 9/11 community, (survivors, residents, recovery workers, volunteers and family members). In 2004 the Association broadened its mission to create Tribute, a place where members of the September 11th community could connect with each other and with the thousands of visitors who come daily to the World Trade Center site (often called Ground Zero).

The Tribute Center is located in the former Liberty Deli at 120 Liberty Street, directly across from Ground Zero. In the aftermath of 9/11, the deli became a station where meals were served to rescuers often by celebrities who came to volunteer and give the tired workers a boost. Later, the deli became a distribution point for equipment like gloves, socks, respirators, eye drops and tools.

From the start, Tribute aimed to present many diverse points of view in order to give visitors a sense of the broad impact of the tragedy. In addition to describing the terrible human toll, it was important to tell the story of residents displaced for months, businesses shut down and the extraordinarily powerful stories of people's resilience and the generosity of spirit that filled the city after 9/11.

The telling of these stories began with the development of the Walking Tour program. Now, more than 150 volunteers, all from the 9/11 community, guide visitors around the site, each sharing his or her own unique experience. The stories told inside Tribute Center are also based on personal experiences. Exhibit film and text are based on over 300 oral histories collected over two years. All of the information is transmitted in first-person voice, by those who experienced 9/11.

Thousands of photographs were collected from professional photographers, neighborhood residents, recovery workers and families of victims, to create the feeling of a "family album". Artifacts were loaned by 9/11 community members and the New York State Museum.