Sesame Street Honors 'Heroes In Your Neighborhood' With New Elmo Song

The new Elmo song is part of Sesame Street’s “Caring for Each Other” initiative

Sesame Workshop is unveiling an all-new music video starring Elmo and friends in honor of frontline workers. It’s a new, very timely adaptation of the popular, classic “People in Your Neighborhood” song that features Abby and Grover in addition to Elmo.

The new version of the song is part of Sesame Street’s ongoing “Caring for Each Other” initiative. The song itself is dedicated to the nation’s frontline workers throughout the current pandemic – celebrating the heroes you and your family might know. “Heroes in Your Neighborhood” helps children celebrate the helpers in their lives – from pharmacists to EMTs to grocery store employees – and teach kids that there are real-life heroes in their open communities.

“There are superheroes in movies, shows, and books, but a real-life hero is kind, helpful, and brave, and there are lots of everyday heroes working hard in every neighborhood right now,” Sesame Street’s YouTube page reads.

This song provides parents everywhere a great opportunity to discuss what a “hero” looks like right now. EMTs, grocery store workers, doctors, nurses, and pharmacists are great examples of ways different, real-life people are working together to help keep everyone safe and healthy. Other essential employees like childcare workers, bus drivers, scientists, delivery people, postal service workers, garbage removers, and utility workers are vital right now — and it’s important for our children to know that.

It’s no surprise that Sesame Street has been doing a master-class job at being there for our kiddos (and us, too, who are we kidding) during this scary, uncertain time. Last month, a few of the characters offered their own kid-friendly PSAs about staying home and why it’s important.

The show also hosted a CNN Town Hall to help explain the coronavirus pandemic to young children. Big Bird teamed up with CNN Chief Medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta and CNN anchor Erica Hill for a 90-minute special titled The ABC’s of COVID-19: A CNN/Sesame Street Town Hall for Kids and Parents. Other beloved characters like Elmo, Abby Cadabby, Rosita, and Grover were also on hand to tackle topics like homeschooling, anxiety, screen time, and socialization.

To continue honoring the heroes we know and live among, Sesame Workshop suggests working on projects or small acts of kindness with your kids during this time.

• Think of other helpers (essential workers such as childcare workers, bus drivers, scientists, delivery people, garbage removers, utility workers, those serving in the military, and so on) and make up your own verses about them.
• Help children make thank-you signs to post near your mailbox or near outdoor garbage areas thanking mail carriers or trash removers.
• Use chalk to create thank-you art on sidewalks or driveways.
• If you live in an area where people are cheering at a certain hour for essential workers, invite children to join in with their own cheers, songs, and sounds (make “drums” from plastic containers and wooden spoons).

Honestly, what would we do without Sesame Street to help us cope through the hard stuff?