CASE STUDY
CitySchools Collaborative
(Formerly CityTutor DC and CityBridge Education)
The Opportunity
Every student deserves to be set up for success. For those who need extra support, high-impact tutoring is one of the most effective ways to improve educational outcomes. A research-backed approach that focuses on frequent small-group and one-on-one sessions, high-impact tutoring is designed to rapidly accelerate student learning.
In 2021, DC nonprofit CityBridge Education launched CityTutor DC in response to the opportunity gaps that were catastrophically exacerbated by the pandemic. Their mission was to help close these gaps for students in grades 3 to 8 by ensuring that anyone who needed it had access to high-impact tutoring.
They first approached Buoy for support in launching the initiative and making sure that their message reached key audiences across the District. Three years later, CityTutor DC grew its mission to include strategic staffing support and a career pathway training program for tutors entering the teaching workforce in DC.
In 2024, CityTutor DC absorbed CityBridge Education; then, a year later, they rebranded as CitySchools Collaborative. Upon relaunch, they once again enlisted Buoy’s support to showcase their new brand.
CATEGORIES OF WORK
Advertising
Communications strategy
Community engagement
Content creation
Creative design
Digital marketing
Messaging
Public + media relations
Report design
Video production
Web design + development
The Solution
To gather insight on the CityTutor DC brand, the Buoy team met with staff, advisory group members, and school partners across DC to find a message that would resonate with potential tutors and school partners.
From there, we designed and built a dynamic website, which featured a custom-filtered resource library, blog, and embedded sign-up forms for prospective tutors. Buoy also developed key messaging for community-based organizations, funders, corporate partners, and target schools; designed graphic templates and digital advertisements; created a welcome email series; and drafted an engagement strategy to recruit tutors.
Our work with the organization continued to expand. Since launch, we’ve provided strategic communications support, built out the initiative's social media presence, designed three annual reports, publicized key partnerships with universities and national organizations, led a $50,000 Giving Tuesday campaign, and drafted communications — most notably, an op-ed in The Washington Post that touted the benefits of high-impact tutoring.
More recently, after CityTutor DC relaunched as CitySchools Collaborative, Buoy again executed a comprehensive website redesign incorporating their new branding.
The Impact
Since the first relaunch in 2021, CitySchools Collaborative has recruited 2,600 tutors and supported 100+ schools and 26,000+ students throughout DC. In those four years, it has garnered over $12 million in grants and fundraising and recruited more than 90 community-based and higher education partners.
Equipped with the branding, assets, and organizational tools needed to perform effective outreach, CitySchools Collaborative is now held up as a national model of successful high-impact tutoring.
