Coming Together - Sesame Street Resources on Racial Literacy

Sesame Workshop continues its major commitment to racial justice with new resources and content called "Coming Together" to help families talk to young children about race and identity. 

All kids need a strong individual and group identity, but racism hurts the healthy development of both, as well as our entire society. Whether you and the children in your care are directly affected by racism or you’re allies of those who are, engaging honestly and directly with little ones is the beginning of building racial literacy (the skills needed to talk thoughtfully about race and to identify and respond to racism). 

Please note: All of the resources listed below and available through Sesame Street in Communities are designed for co-viewing, co-learning, and co-participation - meaning that to create the most meaningful experience and takeaways, adults and children should use them together.

Find Coming Together Resources | Shareable One-Sheet | 
About Sesame Street in Communities | WXXI's Sesame Street Work

Coming Together is rooted in extensive research and consultation with experts to develop a groundbreaking Racial Justice educational framework and curriculum for young children. Like the science-based whole-child model that Sesame Street is known for, this framework will help guide and inform the creation of new Sesame Workshop content going forward—including future seasons of Sesame Street. This collection of resources are designed to provide families with the tools they need to build racial literacy, to have open conversations with young children, to engage allies and advocates to become upstanders against racism, and more, Coming Together includes a racial justice educational framework, ongoing research, and a rolling release of new content.

Where to Find Coming Together Resources: You can find all of the resources connected to Coming Together and Racial Justice by following the below links.

• All of the resources live within Sesame Street in Communities' Racial Justice topic page (all of these materials are available in English/Spanish)
• Explainer Article: What is Racial Literacy?
• Never Too Young Article: Ages & Stages of Racial Understanding
• Parent/Caregiver Article: Raising an Upstander
• Meet Real Families: The Preston Foster Ogletrees Family and The Marañas
• Grownup Workshop: Helping Parents/Caregivers Talk About - And Stand Up Against - Racism
• Explainer Video: Explaining Race

Sesame Street in Communities provides hundreds of bilingual multi-media tools to help kids and families enrich and expand their knowledge during the early years of birth through six, a critical window for brain development. Sesame Street’s resources engage kids and adults in everyday moments and daily routines—from teaching early math and literacy concepts, to encouraging families to eat nutritious foods, to serious topics such as grief and food insecurity. Through ongoing collaboration, training experiences, and local partnerships, the Sesame Street in Communities initiative evolves and helps make a difference. Sesame Street in Communities provides different topics, each with resources that help kids (and parents!) with what matters most in young lives. All are critical to children's healthy development and together they build the foundation for a happy, healthy life. To learn more about Sesame Street in Communities and WXXI's local work with this project, visit SSIC.org or WXXI.org/Sesame

WXXI's work on the Sesame Street in Communities Public Media Champions project is made possible by
the Corporation for Public Broadcasting