Answering the Call: Young Men in the Pre-K Classroom with Julius Cave

Educating to Be Human Podcast

In this episode of Educating to Be Human, Lisa is joined by Julius Cave, Regional Director of the Leading Men Fellowship, a program of The Literacy Lab. In a field where Black men make up only 1.3% of the teaching workforce, the Leading Men Fellowship is tackling this disparity head-on by recruiting young men of color to serve as pre-K educators. This initiative not only reimagines representation in early education but also transforms the classroom experience for students in historically marginalized communities. Julius and his team have developed a curriculum rooted in evidence-based literacy instruction while emphasizing cultural relevance and community-focused support. By empowering fellows and reshaping learning pathways, the program is diversifying the educator pipeline, fostering resilience, and planting the seeds for change in cities nationwide.

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Julius Cave brings over a decade of experience in education, spanning classroom teaching, administration, and nonprofit leadership. As Regional Director for The Literacy Lab’s Southern region, he oversees the recruitment, training, and placement of young men of color, ages 18–24, to serve in early childhood education classrooms where they provide evidence-based literacy support to children who live in historically marginalized communities while helping to diversify the educator pipeline. He is also tasked with building relationships with key community stakeholders to help support the Leading Men Fellowship locally and nationally.

Prior to joining the Leading Men Fellowship originally as a Program Manager, Julius served as the Program Director at the Jumpstart Program at Georgia State University, where he recruited, onboarded, and developed college students to serve in preschool classrooms. Julius has also served as a lead high school history teacher in Houston, Texas, dean of students at one of Memphis, Tennessee’s highest performing middle schools, and as a 7th grade social studies teacher in Atlanta.

A former Education Pioneers Fellow, Julius holds a Bachelors of Arts degree in political science and a Master of Arts degree in management from Wake Forest University.

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Resources

The Literacy Lab: https://theliteracylab.org/

Leading Men Fellowship: https://theliteracylab.org/leading-men/

Follow them on Instagram at @the_literacy_lab & Twitter: @theliteracylab

Also mentioned in this episode: Profound Gentlemen - https://profoundgentlemen.org/