Transforming Lives Two Generations at a Time: LaTonia Naylor’s Vision
There’s no question that there are many facets to LaTonia Monroe Naylor: school committee representative, small business entrepreneur, gunshot survivor, author, nonprofit founder, wife, mother.
With every facet, there’s also no question that education and purpose are foundational to everything she does.
“I have always been a person who is very passionate about helping people and educating people in life,” she said. “How do we help people to grow, and to learn, and to be the best versions of themselves?”
Education isn’t limited to teaching others, but also learning from others. When Monroe Naylor didn’t know how to form a nonprofit, she obtained a master’s degree in the subject. When she needed guidance for marketing, she approached Marketing and Cupcakes™.
Monroe Naylor believes that education is one of the biggest -- and most effective -- ways to make change in the world.
“Education is powerful,” she said. “I’m teaching people things that to me are so simple, but for them are life-changing, and it changes their whole trajectory.”
It Takes a (Parent) Village
The importance of education was central to Monroe Naylor’s decision to run for the Springfield School Committee. As a newly elected representative, she listened intently to a report about the school system during one of her first meetings in 2018. One statistic stood out: seven percent of children that year were ready for kindergarten.
“The presentation was probably 20 more minutes, but I didn’t hear any of it,” Monroe Naylor said. At the conclusion she asked for a clarification, that 93 percent of the students were not prepared for kindergarten. The statistic was correct.
“I could not believe it,” she said. “I was befuddled. I just wasn’t ok with it.”
Monroe Naylor rallied those who helped with her campaign to do something to improve school readiness, beginning with a brainstorming session connecting public officials, parents, students, teachers and police.
“We wanted to understand where the gaps were, and why people weren’t getting the services they needed. We knew there was no excuse for only seven percent of kids to be ready for school,” Monroe Naylor said.
Her coalition learned that some in Springfield didn’t have access to available resources, which led to publicized public information sessions around the city providing better communication. For the first year there was high attendance, but eventually the number of people at these sessions began to dwindle. The coalition determined that these proactive parents no longer needed the sessions. Yet many of those with kids in the 93 percent still didn’t know that these public information sessions existed.
That’s when Parent Villages was born, as a way to engage with parents and students providing long-term resources to the kids who need them most.
“We realized that having these sessions once a month were nice, but they weren’t sustaining,” she said. “We needed to have a full program.”
Parent Villages began with a $500 investment by Monroe Naylor and her husband Mah’dee Naylor for the first meeting. Today the organization’s budget is half a million dollars.
Her goal to improve kindergarten readiness wasn’t helped by the pandemic. Studies from the United Way, the National Institute of Health, and state education departments all concur that kindergarten readiness dropped nationwide. Fortunately, Monroe Naylor has recently seen numbers start to shift and expects a noticeable improvement in the next few years.
These youngest members of the community are benefitting from another aspect of the coalition’s hard work. Through Monroe Naylor’s position with the school system and via Parent Villages, she and her team advocated for universal pre-kindergarten in Springfield. The city was the first in the state to offer the full-day program to three- and four-year-olds. Monroe Naylor knows that being in an educational environment all day will be a boost to these students.
“I think in the next two to three years we’ll look at the data and we’ll see an extreme improvement, not just in kindergarten readiness, but in reading levels with our children,” she said.
A New Trajectory in Life
Monroe Naylor was 16 when she and a friend were attacked on the street. Monroe Naylor was shot at close range, the bullet passing through her chest.
By what can be described as divine revelation, her grandmother met the ambulance when it arrived at the hospital. “She went because she was praying for me that day, and she heard the voice of God telling her to go to the hospital,” Monroe Naylor said. “She said God wanted her to see why she was praying for me, that he had spared my life.”
“I literally from that moment had the mindset that my life was spared. From people literally protecting me, but then God allowing me not to die, it gave me this mindset that I don’t know why I’m still here, but it can’t be for me not to do something productive with my life,” she said.
The incident put her on the path to further her education, and has fueled Monroe Naylor to make improvements in the Springfield community. She’s taken all of the lessons she’s learned as ammunition to help others.
“I do what I know I need to do because I probably shouldn’t be here,” she said. “I better get it in while I can.”
Teacher and Student
She’s made a business by teaching others, but Monroe Naylor recognizes that learning from others has been paramount to her success. Some of that learning includes sessions with Marketing and Cupcakes™ thought leader Mychal Connolly.
Monroe Naylor’s collaboration with Connolly developed when she attended a Marketing and Cupcakes™ event, a networking opportunity to learn bite-sized principles of business and marketing. Monroe Naylor was so inspired by the session, she immediately registered for MACRED memberships for both her consulting business and Chosen Enterprises, owned by her husband. The MACRED membership offers more personalized consulting opportunities and targeted solutions.
During her first individual consultation with Connolly, she learned more about marketing than expected.
“The first session we had paid for everything I was going to invest for the whole year,” she said.
Prior to meeting with Connolly, her consulting business barely garnered enough for her to consider pursuing it full-time. Connolly helped her focus on the right market, demographic and target audience.
“I took what he gave me and was able to have the framework to have my business ready to be profitable,” Monroe Naylor said. “That first conversation (with Connolly) was really life-changing for me for and my business.”
Attending MACRED sessions gave her marketing tools and ideas to apply to her business, but it also gave her confidence. Monroe Naylor said that being a part of MACRED gave her the assurance to say to herself, “Girl, you’ve got this, you know what to do. You’ve got all the tools, now put it together.”
This fall she decided to take another new step with Parent Villages, becoming a retainer client with Connolly’s team. The partnership has helped direct the organization’s marketing plan and business action plan. Connolly’s team offers solutions for entrepreneurs, business owners and professionals for branding, marketing, advertising and content creation. She soon noticed an uptick in awareness for Parent Villages.
“As soon as you really know who you’re targeting and how to frame it in a way that they want to hear, you start attracting the people you’re looking for,” Monroe Naylor said.
Educating Others to Succeed
Being able to target the right people freed Monroe Naylor to focus on educating others. One of these passions is guiding others to start their own nonprofits designed to help the community. She has founded and co-founded two of her own nonprofits, but the path wasn’t easy. When she was unable to find someone who could explain how to organize one on her own, she obtained her Master of Science in Nonprofit Management and Philanthropy. This fueled her desire to help others learn to pursue their own mission-based organizations, which became a consulting firm. Parent Villages is one of her initial projects.
“It became my baby that was the example. Anybody who has the passion and the will can take their thing to give back to people, and create this entity that allows you to help people on a larger scale,” she said.
Between the launch of Parent Villages and the boost from Connolly, she was compelled to transform her side hustle of helping others launch nonprofits into Monroe Naylor Consulting, LLC, in 2022. Helping others reach their goals provides a profound level of peace and satisfaction, but it extends into the improvement it makes in the community.
“That’s what it’s about, watching that transformation in somebody’s life and knowing that, because I’m doing the work I’m doing, they’re allowed to do the work they’re doing,” Monroe Naylor said.
Part of her leap into her own business includes authorship of a book for those who want to turn their passion into a profitable organization. Mission-Rich and Profit-Powered is a guide for mission-driven individuals, explaining the fundamentals of creating an organization with purpose. Monroe Naylor shares her tips for structuring an organization and finding funding to help the business grow so that time can be better spent helping others.
“I literally teach people how to do the thing I did with Parent Villages,” she said. “Having this team and implementing the things that I’m talking about in my book has allowed Parent Villages to be successful.”
A lot of credit for her ambition is attributed to Monroe Naylor’s mother, who has been involved in the nonprofit journey since the beginning. Mama Page, as she is known, is part of the reasons that Monroe Naylor has found success.
“Monroe Naylor Consulting, Parent Villages, none of that would be in existence if it wasn’t for her championing alongside me.” Monroe Naylor said. “She knows that this is part of her legacy.”
A Different Mindset
As part of their mission to improve the quality of education, Parent Villages sponsors opportunities to build a connection between families and community leaders. One such opportunity is the Teen Village Builder Program. Local entrepreneurs and leaders explain how they overcame obstacles through personal experiences. Marketing and Cupcakes™ founder and Stand Out Truck® owner Mychal Connolly has been a presenter since the first program in 2019. The kids loved hearing about his journey of arriving in the United States with only $20 and a dream.
Programs that inspire and drive others to improve their situation are part of the mindset of Parent Villages.
“If you are struggling and you want to change, this is the place for you,” Monroe Naylor said. “If you’re not trying to change, it’s not going to work. We’re looking for people who have the mindset that they want to move out of their situation. They’re sick and tired of being sick and tired.”
Rather than simply giving out gift cards to anyone seeking a handout, Parent Villages aims to provide help for the future to those who need it.
“Parent Villages is a place where you can give back and receive,” Monroe Naylor said. “People come to us who don’t necessarily need a gift card or counseling, but what they do need is connectivity. They need to feel like they belong. They need to be able to see their value.”
“Everybody’s important in the Village, and we all can give something in the Village,” she said.
An upcoming program will inspire teens and their parents to learn about entrepreneurial business practices. The January Teen Brunch on January 13 at Duggan Academy is free of charge, though pre-registration is required. The program centers around The Lemonade Book: Moo, Loo, and Kayla Do Lemonade. The book, published by Connolly, follows teenagers who use their unique skills to find success with a lemonade stand. Register at parentvillages.org/events
