Cheers to 10 Years of Impact for City’s First Readers

June 30th marked the conclusion of City’s First Readers’ 10th year serving families across New York City with early literacy programming. It’s been a decade of great impact and momentum for City’s First Readers (CFR) and we are incredibly grateful to the  New York City Council for its ongoing commitment to our collaboration.

The dynamic coalition of 17 partner organizations that comprise CFR is stronger than ever and consistently moving the needle forward on early literacy. CFR member organizations have built strong, lasting partnerships with leading cultural institutions such as botanical gardens and children’s museums, facilitated health fairs in conjunction with the Healthcare Education Project,* and involved city leaders as a means of strengthening the consortium and to vocalize our shared message: Learning to Read Starts at Birth.

Reflecting on the past year at the partner meeting in June, Karen Rogel, LINC’s Director of Strategic Initiatives, noted, "Together, we reached families over 1.1 million times and gave out more than 440,000 books this year." 

In the face of massive cuts to education funding and services at the federal level and with proposed cuts to early childhood education, later rescinded, from the Mayor, City’s First Readers partner organizations stepped up their public facing advocacy and were visible at Council hearings, rallies, and more. Loud and proud, CFR was on the steps of City hall for The Women's Caucus rally, the Administration for Children’s Services Budget Rally, as well as NYC’s Department of Youth and Community Development, and the NYC Education budget rallies. CFR partners provided testimony to the Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries, and International Intergroup Relations, the Committee on Civil Rights, the Committee on Education, and the Committee on Immigrant Affairs. The common thread was the importance of reaching children while their brains are rapidly growing with the stimulation that ensures healthy brain development and equally important reaching their parents so that this critical stage of development is supported at home.

A comprehensive analysis of the cumulative impact of CFR’s work over the past decade is underway. Based on prior annual assessments, we expect to quantify and substantiate our claim that caregivers who participate in CFR programs are:

• reading more books and reading more often with their children

• reading with their children starting at an earlier age

• gaining a deeper understanding of child development

• establishing regular reading routines

• using best practices to promote their children’s reading ability and cognitive development

• talking with their children about the world around them

• building their home libraries and using more learning materials at home.

Reading is a turnkey skill - one that is essential for individual economic independence as well as essential for our society and our democracy. 

For more information about City’s First Readers and to get involved, please contact: Karen Rogel, Director of Strategic Initiatives at krogel@lincnyc.org. LINC is the facilitating partner of this collaboration.

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• The Healthcare Education Project is a joint effort of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East and the Greater New York Hospital Association. Together, the two organizations represent over 450,000 healthcare workers and nearly 280 not-for-profit hospitals and continuing care facilities.