The Democratic Socialists of America is bringing political education into child-care programs and school-related organizing. The group has encouraged activists to think about child care “from a socialist perspective,” part of an effort that a parental-rights advocate says has been underway for years.
In October 2026, the DSA’s New York City chapter held a training for its Red Sprouts program. Organizers were taught to provide child care at demonstrations, meetings and community events, with activities that included politically themed stories, cooperative games and discussions designed for children’s ages.
Alleigh Marré, who leads the American Parents Coalition, said the organization has seen growing enthusiasm for recruiting and expanding the movement. She said the effort to involve young people, as well as adults, was especially troubling.
The coalition says it is helping parents recognize and question political activism in schools. Its resources include an initiative called Lookout.
The New York chapter has also formed Comrades With Kids, a group intended to serve as a political and social gathering place for working-class families. In September 2025, the group shared photos of DSA-themed coloring sheets made available at a Zohran for Parents event.
These projects are part of a broader effort to combine child care and political education with DSA organizing. The group’s National Political Education Committee has offered activists guidance on child care from a socialist viewpoint, including activities for children at political events. In 2025, it described plans for a Socialist Sprouts curriculum for children, parents and caregivers involved in the movement.
The DSA’s work with children goes back at least a decade. In 2016, members in New York City started a Socialist Sunday School for children ages 2 to 6. The program paired children’s books, including “The Lorax,” with political songs such as “Union Maid” and “Solidarity Forever,” using them to introduce topics like corporate power, environmentalism and organizing against unfairness.
The Cleveland chapter in Ohio produced a coloring book meant to explain the issues the DSA works on. One illustration adapted “The Three Little Pigs” to reflect the chapter’s housing priorities. The organization’s online store has also offered children’s clothing promoting a Green New Deal for public schools.
The DSA presents its child-care programs as a way to make political organizing more accessible to working-class families. Marré sees a different risk, arguing that introducing socialist ideas to very young children could amount to political indoctrination.
She said children may absorb political beliefs early, while they are forming their views of the world. Marré also argued that the programs focus on socialist and communist-aligned ideas instead of teaching children how to think critically and exposing them to a broad range of political and religious perspectives.
The organization’s education efforts extend beyond child care. At its 2023 national convention, the DSA adopted a measure calling for it to recruit and support socialist candidates for school boards. One of the amendment’s authors, Rose DuBois, said such races could help the group connect with voters it might not otherwise reach, including parents, while building experience for larger campaigns.
The DSA’s Los Angeles chapter has a Public Education Committee. Its priorities include increasing the group’s influence on school boards, recruiting candidates, working with teachers’ unions and promoting policies such as the Green New Deal.
The DSA has gained political ground since the 2026 midterm elections, with candidates it backed winning races for Congress, state legislatures and local school boards. Its preferred positions also prevailed on 23 ballot measures. In Washington, voters rejected a proposal to restore expanded parental rights in public schools.
The results point to the expanding reach of a group whose members support moving economic power away from private corporations and expanding publicly funded programs, including universal health care and child care.
Zohran Mamdani’s 2025 election as New York City mayor brought additional attention to the movement. Mamdani is a DSA member, and the organization has drawn support from many younger voters. After the 2026 midterms, three DSA members are set to represent parts of New York City in Congress: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Reps.-elect Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier.
Marré said the effects of the newly elected DSA-backed officials could become clearer as they take office and become involved in their communities.
