Rooted in community

Meet Latoya.

My decision to run is rooted both in my life as a mother of four and in a career spent working in and alongside community—advocating for families, children, and working people every day.

The First Suffolk is made up of diverse neighborhoods, cultures, and communities, and every one of them deserves to be heard and represented. My decision to run is rooted both in my life as a mother of four and in a career spent working in and alongside community: advocating for families, children, and working people every day.

A typical weekday morning in my house looks like this: my husband and I are wrangling a four-year-old headed to K1, a ten-year-old hunting for his saxophone, a twenty-year-old finishing college homework, and a twenty-two-year-old recent grad getting ready for work. For the last 22 years, we’ve raised our family in the South End and Dorchester.Our kids have gone to school in South Boston, Adams Corner, the Polish Triangle, and St. Mark’s—so I don’t just represent the First Suffolk. I live it.

I know what it’s like to raise a young family while worrying about rent increases, childcare costs, and whether your children are getting what they need to thrive. I also know what it’s like to watch your adult children—and their friends—wonder if they’ll ever be able to afford to live in the same city they grew up in. And I hear every day from seniors who are worried about whether they’ll be able to stay in the communities they helped build. These aren’t theoretical concerns to me. They are my lived reality—and the reality of families across the First Suffolk.

I’m already doing this work. I currently serve as Senior Director of Advocacy and Family Partnerships at Neighborhood Villages, where I connect families to early education and care and work across policy and programs to drive systems-level change. Before that, I was Executive Director of Boston School Finder, helping families navigate school enrollment by building real relationships with parents and school leaders. I’m a co-founder of Phenomenal Moms, a former chair of the BPS City-Wide Parent Council, and I organized March Like a Mother—a 1,000-person rally and vigil after the murder of George Floyd.

In my so-called free time, I volunteer with the Vital Village social justice mediation program and serve on advisory committees including Youth Guidance Boston and Right to the City.

Through all of this work—and all the time I’ve spent at the State House—I’ve learned what effective leadership looks like. I’ve worked with elected officials who listen, act with urgency, and treat community as a true partner. And I also know what it feels like when that partnership breaks down—when voices go unheard and solutions are blocked.