The Believe Project: Using Culturally Responsive Materials to Teach Literacy

Julius B. Anthony is another long-time literacy friend. We have collaborated on several projects in the St. Louis Area. We first met when his group, The St. Louis Black Authors, gave a presentation for one of our local ILA council meetings. Everyone was impressed with the group and their original publications. Juluis presented one of his children‘s books. Subsequently, Juluis became involved with our local ILA groups and eventually became the president of our ILA local council.

I got to watch firsthand as Juluis pioneered his Believe Projects. He now has 14 in place and is currently expanding to include more preschool sites. Here is a link to his Facebook page and a screen capture of two of his most recent posts LINK.

The first post talks about his training sessions for preschool teachers and daycare programs

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The other post talks about his call for guest readers at some of his Believe project sites:

Here is a link to videos of several of the Believe Literacy Labs. I would mention that the Woodland school lab is located in the building where I spent 18 years of my Title I career. I was especially excited to go to the grand opening of that one. LINK.

As you can see, each lab is spacious and well-stocked with culturally relevant books. Some are located at schools, and others are in community centers, including one at the Ferguson Community Center. Local artists completed the murals.

It is rather clear that the Believe projects are carrying out their main mission, which is as follows;

If you want to find out more about this amazing project, be sure to listen to the video of the interview below. I’ve gone on record several times, stating that I think this project could serve as a model for those interested in promoting culturally relevant literacy projects. Be sure to listen to the full interview below.

Copyright 2025 by Dr. Sam Bommarito. Views/interpretations expressed here are solely this author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of any other person or organization.

Julius Anthony owns the copyright to the Believe project and all its works.