(ATLANTA, February 1, 2022) — The Literacy Lab announced today Julius Cave as the program manager for its Leading Men Fellowship in Metro Atlanta, Georgia. He will help spearhead combating educational inequity among Atlanta’s youngest students by training and placing more young men of color as paid literacy tutors in local pre-K classrooms. In coordination with a Program Associate and Early Literacy Coaching Specialists, Cave will lead the recruitment efforts for the inaugural class of 20 Leading Men Fellows who will begin tutoring in Atlanta Public Schools and Sheltering Arms pre-K classrooms in the Fall of 2022. Over time, the Fellowship plans to increase and expand its reach throughout Metro Atlanta to serve over 50 classrooms per year.
Cave is a veteran educator with over a decade of classroom, administrative, and non-profit experience. Prior to joining The Literacy Lab, he served as a program director with the Jumpstart Program at Georgia State University where he recruited, onboarded, and developed college students to serve in preschool classrooms. He also served as a lead high school history teacher in Houston, as dean of students at one of Memphis’s highest-performing middle schools, and as a 7th grade social studies teacher in Atlanta.
“I am excited to build upon the legacy of The Literacy Lab’s Leading Men Fellowship in cultivating young men of color as early educators and ensuring that students have the skills they need for kindergarten and beyond,” remarked Cave. “I look forward to partnering with local organizations and communities committed to this critical work of diversifying the educator workforce and empowering pre-K students to recognize their extraordinary potential.”
Ivan Douglas, National Director of the Leading Men Fellowship welcomes Cave to the Leading Men community: “He has been a great leader in the education community who has demonstrated a heart, a mind, and a passion for empowering people of color. I look forward to working with Cave and the full Atlanta Leading Men team, to reach as many children and young men of color throughout the Metro Atlanta region as possible for many years to come.
The Literacy Lab is an education non-profit whose mission is to provide students who are historically and systemically marginalized with individualized reading instruction to increase literacy skills, leading to greater success in school and increased opportunities in life. The Literacy Lab accomplishes this by empowering members of the community to serve as full-time literacy tutors in elementary and early childhood classrooms to close the literacy achievement gap and build the teacher pipeline. The Literacy Lab’s Leading Men Fellowship also provides a robust professional development enrichment activities, intensive coaching and training sessions, and interactive mentoring experiences with veteran educators and community leaders throughout the entire school year. The Fellowship currently operates in Baltimore, Maryland; Central Virginia; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Washington DC. The Fellowship will launch in Atlanta, Georgia; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Phoenix, Arizona beginning with the 2022-23 school year.
The Metro Atlanta expansion was made possible by GreenLight Fund Atlanta. After a rigorous, year-long selection process, GreenLight Fund, in partnership with GreenLight Atlanta’s Selection Advisory Council, identified the impact of classroom instruction interruption as an investment opportunity area for the Atlanta community.
According to Joli Cooper, GreenLight Fund Atlanta’s Executive Director, “Everything that we do is with and for our local community. Through our community-driven process, we identified a need and as a result, we are thrilled The Leading Men Fellowship will provide our talented young men of color the opportunity to explore careers in early education and, our pre-K scholars will have the opportunity for literacy coaching like they’ve never had before!”
Recruitment for the inaugural class of 20 Leading Men Fellows in Atlanta is currently underway. Fellows will begin tutoring in Atlanta Public Schools and Sheltering Arms pre-K classrooms in the Fall of 2022. If you are a young man of color with a high school degree or GED equivalent between ages 18-24 and you are looking for your next opportunity, you can apply for the Leading Men Fellowship here.
For more information, please visit theliteracylab.org.
