A NATIONAL YOUTH MUSIC MOVEMENT
We Are Your
Children
When our children sing the truth together, our nation has to listen.
We Are Your Children is a nationwide grassroots youth anthem movement giving school, faith-based, and community youth choirs a shared song and a powerful way to raise their voices for the future they will inherit. Created for America’s 250th birthday, this is our country’s first national youth anthem and a gift to the children and youth of America.
WHY THIS MATTERS
Children are not the problem. They are society's mirror.
Young people today are growing up amid anxiety, loneliness, bullying, violence, disconnection, uncertainty, and emotional pressure. Many of these challenges have been shaped and modeled by adults with little concern about the short and long-term impact on our children.
We believe music can help heal division, restore connection, and remind us that we belong to one another.
Through shared voice, young people discover belonging, purpose, teamwork, empathy, courage, and hope. We Are Your Children exists to help amplify those voices and reconnect communities through a shared national song.
Children are not singing to entertain us. They are singing to awaken us.
The song is the engine.
Everything else flows from it.
At the heart of the movement is the original anthem We Are Your Children, lyrics by Larry Sagen and arrangement by Jason Hansen. The song speaks from the perspective of young people asking adults to recognize the consequences of today’s choices on tomorrow’s world.
OUR SONG
One song. Thousands of young voices. A nation invited to listen.
And a possibility for everyone to grow.
SING. LISTEN. SHARE. GROW.
A GIFT FOR AMERICA’S 250TH BIRTHDAY
As America celebrates its 250th birthday, We Are Your Children invites young people across the country to raise their voices in hope, unity, and shared purpose.
This grassroots movement aims to engage at least 250 youth choirs performing to their local communities and state capitals across America.
We Are Your Children is FREE to school, faith-based, and community youth choirs as a national song of hope, belonging, and shared responsibility, inviting young people across the country to sing for the future they will inherit.
Net proceeds from broadcast, licensing, streaming, downloads, and special initiatives will be donated to youth music and youth leadership nonprofits. Our goal is to create a sustainable “pay it forward” model.
We Are Your Children is a grassroots movement.
That’s how real change happens.
register your choir
Bring We Are Your Children to your community.
Use this form to register your school, faith-based, or community youth choir. You will then be able to download free SATB, SA/Children's Choir and Instrumental arrangements, rehearsal tracks, conductor notes, and an upcoming background video.
What happens next?
After registration, participating choirs can download FREE materials including:
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SATB, SA,Children’s Choir and Instrumental arrangements
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Rehearsal tracks
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Conductor’s notes
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A powerful visual media file that can be projected behind the choir during performances.
These visuals will deepen the emotional impact of your performance and help audiences connect more deeply with the message.
We ask each choir to record and share their performance on social media and send us the link so we can help amplify your voices nationwide.
Become One of the Inaugural 250 Choirs
Sign up early to become one of the first 250 choirs performing We Are Your Children during America’s 250th Birthday celebration in 2026.
Each Inaugural 250 Choir will receive a beautiful commemorative certificate honoring their participation in this historic national event and their commitment to America’s children.
Ambassador & PARTNERS
Building a national movement.
Beginning with youth choirs.
The movement begins at a local grassroots level with school, faith-based, and community youth choirs performing and sharing the anthem across America to their local communities and their state capitals. Grassroots is how real change happens.
As the movement grows, We Are Your Children is building a national network of stakeholders including Choral Director Ambassadors, Youth Ambassadors, Celebrity Ambassadors, Advisors, Volunteers, and all participating choirs who will spread the word through their personal and social networks and believe music can help inspire connection, empathy, hope, and national reflection.
Become an Ambassador
Help build a movement.
One Choir at a time.
About
Founders & Ambassadors
We Are Your Children is guided by choral directors, composers, musicians, educators, community organizers, faith leaders, amazing young people, and our Ambassadors and advisors who believe music can help amplify youth voice, connection, empathy, and hope.
Founders / Songwriters
Founder, Lyrics by:
Larry Sagen
Larry has spent a lifetime bringing people together to uplift children and youth. For more than fifty years, he has served as a teacher, coach, mentor, family therapist, nonprofit founder, community organizer, and lifelong youth advocate. Among his proudest achievements is founding the International Youth Hall of Fame, which helped 16 communities honor more than 3,500 young people through a “pay it forward” model of leadership, service, and compassion. A lifelong poet and lyric writer, Larry has written works for moments of national celebration, including Freedom Got a Facelift for the 1986 rededication of the Statue of Liberty, and Listen to the Children for an opening ceremony of the 1990 Goodwill Games. He treasures collaborations that bring words of hope to life through music.
In November 2025, after being diagnosed with cancer, Larry was moved to write “We Are Your Children” as a gift to America’s children in honor of the nation’s 250th birthday. Larry holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Minnesota and an M.S.W. in Family Therapy from Washington University in St. Louis. Married for 41 years, he is a proud stepfather, father-in-law, and grandfather.
arrangement by:
Jason Hansen
Jason is a Twin Cities-based musician with a reputation for his work in the choir and theater. He has built a distinguished career as music director, arranger, and orchestrator, working with schools and theater programs from elementary to collegiate levels. As a theater artist, Jason has aided in the development of many new works, including several world premieres, and has provided arrangements or orchestrations for choral programs and theater productions at regional theaters throughout the country.
His diverse artistic abilities have paired him with projects covering widely varied musical styles from rock to classical to jazz to folk music. Having grown up in a musical family in Minnesota, he enjoys creating music in the vibrant musical community he calls home. Jason holds a degree in music from the University of Minnesota.
Executive producer
Judy Sagen
Judy Sagen retired from School District 196 of Rosemount, Apple Valley, and Eagan, Minnesota, in the spring of 2011, after teaching choral music in the district for 37 years. She received her undergraduate degrees in Music Education and Piano Performance from Drake University and her master’s degree from the University of Minnesota.
In its 17th year, Judy originated and serves as Artistic Director of the Minnesota Valley Women’s Chorale, a 95- member women’s community choir south of the river. She has served as MN-ACDA President and has been a guest conductor and presenter at numerous state and divisional conferences.
Some of Judy’s accolades include ACDA Minnesota Choral Director of the Year, MMEA Music Educator of the Year, and the 2020 recipient of the MN-ACDA F. Melius Christiansen Lifetime Achievement Award for her outstanding contributions to choral music in Minnesota. She was also the 2024-25 conductor of the Minnesota All-State SSA Choir.
Choral Director Ambassadors
Philip Brunelle
Philip Brunelle is the founder and artistic director of VocalEssence, an internationally renowned conductor, choral scholar, and champion of the choral art. His work has helped expand the choral repertoire through performances, commissions, and a lifelong commitment to new and rarely heard music.
Mark Johnson
Mark Johnson has served as Music Director of the Minnesota Boychoir since 1993 after beginning with the choir as accompanist in 1991. A St. Olaf College graduate in music education, he brings decades of experience teaching and conducting young singers.
Dr. Rollo Dilworth
Dr. Rollo Dilworth is one of America's most respected choral educators, composers, and conductors. He serves as the Elaine Brown Choral Chair, Chair of the Vocal Arts Department, and Professor of Choral Music Education at Temple University. With more than 200 published choral works and decades of leadership as a guest conductor and clinician, he has inspired thousands of singers and music educators worldwide. A passionate advocate for excellence, diversity, and community engagement through music, Dr. Dilworth is committed to using the arts to create greater understanding for the human condition. He serves on the national boards of Chorus America and the Presser Foundation.
Bruce W. Becker
Recognized and honored for extraordinary service and visionary leadership to the choral music profession, Bruce W. Becker has inspired and led distinctive choral music programs for school and church spanning over five decades. He has served in volunteer, elected and full-time leadership positions within ACDA of Minnesota, serving most recently as its Executive Director 2009-2022.
Upon the first hearing of "We are the Children", I was immediately struck by the extraordinary text and beauty of the stunning melodic and harmonic structures. The crowning touch of the listening experience was the immense and total buy-in of the student performers. I was immediately hooked and found myself fully immersed in the experience so much so that I felt I was witnessing a significant cultural phenomenon. This piece will elevate and stimulate the conscience of every person that has the privilege of hearing it and promises to be a "call to action". Are you listening?
Mission Ambassadors
Odessa Kawai
Odessa Kawai is an advocate, community leader, mother, and grandmother guided by the Native Hawaiian value of kuleana which is the shared responsibility to care for one another, our communities, and the earth. She was drawn to We Are Your Children because its message reflects her belief that we honor our ancestors by learning from the past and creating a better future for the generations that follow. As the first Mission Ambassador, she is honored to help share this message and inspire others to discover how their unique gifts can help move the mission forward.