Early intervention to mitigate special education and reading risk is especially critical for low socioeconomic and minority learners. This study examined the lasting effects of an early reading intervention package of phonemic awareness on the reading skills of 38 second-grade students one and two years after intervention ended. The participants were kindergarten through second grade low socioeconomic, racially diverse learners from three urban elementary schools. Assessments consisted of standardized annual pre- and posttests and Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills regular measures. The findings showed beneficial effects of the early literacy interventions with strong responders attaining and maintaining benchmark status and with poorer responders needing more intensive instruction to show continuous growth. On the other hand, initially low-risk (non-treatment) urban learners failed to maintain their early advantage over their higher risk peers, suggesting the need for more extensive monitoring and interventions within urban settings. The implications of these findings as well as directions for future research are discussed. (Contains 2 tables and 5 figures.)