Our Milestones
Since Room to Grow's founding in 1998, over 850 families have participated in our program. These families have made thousands of visits to our sites, meeting with our clinicians every three months and receiving critical support and information to encourage and promote their children's healthy development. At the same time, we have distributed over $4.5 million worth of new and nearly-new baby items to provide these children with a safe and enriched environment in which to grow, learn, and thrive.

Measuring Success
Room to Grow measures program impact using multiple methods – both quantitative and qualitative – to ensure no opportunity is missed to further refine our highly effective model.

Methods
• Feedback from clients by phone, in-person meetings and interview
• Tracking of retention, program compliance, and engagement
• Annual written client satisfaction surveys
• Program graduate follow-up survey and tracking (at 6- and 12-months post-graduation)
• Independent, comprehensive evaluation by external sources i.e. Chartwell Education Group
• Tracking of distribution of baby items such as books, educational toys, clothing and equipment

One of the most powerful measures of our success is our retention rate. Many programs that support families in poverty struggle to get clients to attend appointments; to maintain a commitment to receiving services; and to create trusting, long-term relationships with their counselors. Room to Grow has excelled in this area. Our client compliance rate, which measures the number of families who have started with our program and remained committed to it throughout the first three years of their child's life, is exemplary. Measured in New York since 2003, over 80% of clients have completed the full three-years of the program. In Boston, where the figure has been measured since March 2005, the rate is over 87%. These figures provide evidence of the importance of the service we are providing to our clients, the needs we are meeting, and the quality of the referrals we receive from the prenatal programs with which we work.

From our 2008 client survey, we know that:
• Over 90% of parents are more knowledgeable about major developmental milestones in their child’s life
• Over 88% of parents report that Room to Grow has taught them how to have a healthy relationship with their child
• Over 85% percent of parents report that Room to Grow taught them about their child’s physical and emotional needs

Another measure of our success is the exceptional number of donations of baby items we have secured from individuals, community partners and corporations. In 2006, our sites received baby items valued at nearly $900,000. At each visit, our clients receive over $1,000 worth of baby items, so it is essential that we continually collect clothing, toys, books and other items from our community of in-kind donors. The tremendous number of donations that we receive year after year is testimony to the enthusiasm of our donors who recognize what a simple, fundamental service we are providing; and how easy - yet necessary - it is to support it.

In 2009 we distributed thousands of items to families in our program, including 14,200 books; 8,520 toys; 30,836 items of clothing; and 3,686 accessories and equipment.

Selected Achievements: 2009-2010
Enhancing Early Literacy Education Component
Our social workers have received training from early childhood literacy specialists to develop an enhanced early literacy education and training component. They pass along strategies for reading to infants and toddlers at each client meeting, and provide books for each family to take home.

Implemented Second Year of Annual Client Surveys
In 2008 we conducted our first annual client survey. We have revised the survey to be administered at the child’s first, second and third year of the program to help us follow the long-term impacts of our program.

Established Graduate Outreach Program
Social workers reach out to their former clients at 6-and 12-months post-graduation to gather data on child well-being, make referrals (if needed), and to discuss progress towards outstanding goals.

Early Outreach to New Moms
Social workers are reaching out to each new client within two weeks of giving birth. Using a survey instrument, social workers are making sure that moms have the information and support they need about feeding, sleeping, and caring for a newborn, and also checking for signs of postpartum depression.