Project Highlights
THREADS began in 2002 at the University of Michigan as a result of the creative inspiration of Drs. Lumas Helaire and Brian Carey Sims, who were both Ph.D. students at the university. With a deep desire to use their training in psychological and motivation science to serve and support the lives of historically underserved youth, they began THREADS at West Middle School in Ypsilanti, Michigan. A few years later, Dr. Jamaal Sharif Matthews came to the university, also as a Ph.D. student, and soon became the successor and director of the program, invited by Helaire and Sims. Since then, Matthews has expanded and developed the program first at the University of Michigan, and then at Montclair State University and various middle schools in the city of Newark, New Jersey.
Meet The Team
Leadership

Jamaal Sharif Matthews, PhD
Program Director & Co-Creator
Associate Professor, Education & Psychology
College of Education and Human Services
Montclair State University

Lumas Helaire PhD
Founder & Co-Creator
Associate Director, Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives
University of Michigan

Brian Carey Sims, PhD
Founder & Co-Creator
Executive Director, Jomoworks LLC
Associate Professor, Department of Psychology
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU)
Advisors

Kyle Boomhower
Instructor for THREADS, School Liaison, Former THREADS mentor ‘16
Mentors
Mentors of the Year
2019
Mariah Rohan & Eric Okai

2018
Jherel Saunders-Dittimus & Jessica Smith
