$6.5 million request would expand vital literacy programming for the youngest New Yorkers
New York, NY – The partners of the City’s First Readers (CFR) initiative and Council Member
Jennifer Gutiérrez will host a rally on City Hall steps calling for $6.5 million in funding to support
early childhood literacy programming in the Fiscal 2025 Adopted Budget. CFR harnesses the
collective energy of 17 early literacy partners across all 51 NYC council districts, surrounding
families and children with free community-driven programming that builds family literacy and a
strong pre-reading foundation for children from birth through five. The rally message calls on
the New York City Council and the Adams Administration to prioritize an investment of $6.5
million for the initiative, established by the City Council in 2014, to support the program’s
capacity and expansion of services. In light of the stressors, trauma, and negative effects of the
pandemic, the need to support families as early as possible with social-emotional learning and
culturally responsive early learning programming has never been more critical. CFR partners
work independently and as a collective to spread a literacy blanket across the entirety of the
city, from hospitals and libraries to daycares and homes.
WHO: City’s First Readers Partners with Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez
WHAT: Rally to support City Council’s early childhood literacy initiative CFR
WHEN: Thursday, June 6, 2024, beginning at 9:00am
WHERE: City Hall Park Steps, New York, NY 10007
About City’s First Readers
Established by the New York City Council in 2014, City’s First Readers is an initiative in collaboration with 17 nonprofit organizations and coordinated by Literacy In Community (LINC), fostering the literacy development of children birth through five. The initiative was started to address the literacy crisis in New York City by building a coalition with the capacity to build an equitable city where children start school ready to read. To learn more about CFR, please visit www.citysfirstreaders.com.
Event Contact
Emmanuel Novy, Chief of Strategic Initiatives, enovy@lincnyc.org, 817-360-7075.
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