City’s First Readers (CFR)
PROJECT: Multi-Year Evaluation of a Citywide Literacy Coalition funded by the New York City Council
/ CHALLENGE
City’s First Readers (CFR), a coalition of 14 nonprofits and the three New York City public library systems, sought to demonstrate the collective impact of their efforts to ensure children from birth to age five receive the supports needed to become successful readers. With diverse partners, programs, and goals, CFR needed a unifying evaluation framework that could track services numbers and outcomes across organizations and provide credible evidence to funders and policymakers.
/ SOLUTION
A&O has served as CFR’s independent evaluator for more than six years, helping partners clarify goals, outcomes, and evaluation capacity. Our work combines rigorous quantitative and qualitative methods, including statistical analysis of standardized assessments, geocoding and mapping of service reach, descriptive illustrations of program data, and surveys, interviews, and observations with families, educators, and staff. Recent studies have measured coalition strength, program fidelity, and parent engagement using the StimQ tool, which showed statistically significant gains in family reading routines. We also document CFR’s citywide reach — nearly one family touch points in FY 2023 through workshops, library story times, home visits, and literacy events — and provide ongoing feedback to strengthen quality and impact.
“The A&O team has provided far more than data collection and analysis. They’ve helped us design and refine a comprehensive learning and evaluation framework that not only measures our reach— but more importantly, our impact. . . With their support, we’ve examined whether our programs are not only effective, but also relevant, respectful, and meaningful to the diverse communities we serve.”
/ OUTCOME
Findings have informed CFR’s continuous improvement, strengthened its advocacy with City leaders, and demonstrated impact on parent knowledge and practices that support early literacy. Current efforts include formative and summative feedback on diversity, equity, inclusion, and emerging community needs, ensuring that CFR remains responsive to the communities it serves.