On a recent Sunday morning at Judson Memorial Church in New York, seven-year-old Nova stood before the congregation and read from the children's book We Are the Builders. "Raise our voices, banners and beats. Meet and march out in the streets," she said, as summer sunlight streamed through stained-glass windows. "Who wants to join the disrupters?"
After Nova listed community roles—builders, disrupters, caregivers, visionaries—congregants formed small groups to discuss helping neighbors: documenting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities, delivering groceries, and protesting the climate crisis. Judson, a multi-denominational church rooted in social justice, is integrating children into its service and activism rather than separating them into Sunday school.
Children as Participants in Justice
"Children are not merely recipients of justice," said Steff Reed, Judson's Sunday school director, during his sermon. "They are participants in the work of justice." This children-centered activism is spreading across progressive spaces and neighborhood parenting groups in New York City as families explain ICE presence, the Iran war, and community action to their children.
Elizabeth Hamby, Nova's mother, formed a justice-oriented families group called Seeds in the Bronx. "There's no roadmap for how we parent through this," Hamby said. "There are no easy answers, and so having a space where we can talk about it, at least we can work on it together." Hamby, an artist and civil servant, started Seeds around the time Donald Trump retook office. About once a month, dozens of families gather to read civil rights books, sing resistance songs, and discuss protests, while children play and adults share parenting challenges.
Integrating Organizing into Daily Life
Eduardo Rega Calvo, a Seeds member, said his six-year-old daughter Naira, born during the pandemic, has always been surrounded by protest—from Black Lives Matter chants to Washington Heights organizing for Palestine and anti-Trump rallies. For the last No Kings protest in March, Seeds marched down Broadway with 75 people, children carrying a parachute reading: "We are the ones we have been waiting for." "We bought this little megaphone that they can hold, and watching them pass it between each other, and each leading songs and chants, it was awesome," said Hamby. "It's super energizing for us."
The Hands Off NYC coalition helps families facilitate playdates with coloring pages, chalk, and teach-ins featuring musicians and performers. "When you have young kids, you don't stop having them just because the government is doing bad things that you need to protest," said Grace Lindsay, a Hands Off NYC organizer. "So there needs to be a way for those things to work together."
Climate Families NYC and Legislative Action
Climate Families NYC, which has grown to 5,000 members since 2019, organizes park playdates and events with a climate focus: rallying against AI in classrooms and for local climate legislation like the Sunny Act, which allows renters to use plug-in balcony solar panels. Liat Olenick, the group's program and communications director, recently took her four-year-old to the state capitol to support the Sunny Act. "He was wearing a sun costume, just bolting down the hall," she said. "A four-year-old in Albany is hilarious by default, but he knows what the Sunny Act is, he knows who the governor of New York is."
At Judson, the service adjustments nod to the tradition of folding children into activism. Black churches were key during the civil rights movement. Sheyann Webb-Christburg, who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at age eight, recently told the Guardian that King ensured children were included in discussions. "He took us by our hands and said: 'Let them stand,' and he brought us into that room, pulled up chairs and sat right in front of us, continuing to have conversations with us," she said. "That was special."
After Judson's service, kids ate ice-cream sundaes while painting butterfly wings for the Queer Liberation parade. Ada, a nine-year-old who topped her sundae with whipped cream, said she sees herself as a visionary. "I imagine a lot of good things, but I also imagine things that probably will never happen, like water parks with ice-cream and not water." After concluding that swimming in streams of ice-cream might be too sticky, she added: "I would also like to see everyone helping each other, and more people respecting others, even though we're different."
