Dr. Marlon Haywood

You can a highly energetic, educated, African-American Male. That will be able to stimulate the audience bringing them to a realization that there is hope after all.

Marlon was born and raised on the Southside of Chicago in the Englewood area. Never one to let his environment dictate his future, he attended Northern Illinois University (NIU). Marlon received his Master’s Degree in Adult & Higher Education and a Bachelor’s of Arts in Liberal Studies from NIU. Currently, Marlon is a Doctoral student in the Educational Leadership program at Roosevelt University.

Marlon’s life’s mission is to be a positive source of change in the lives of young people, in particular young minority men. His professional resume is one deeply rooted in service. While serving as a Transition Specialist, he noticed the completion rate for African American males that receives their GED was low. To serve as an intervention, he co-developed the male mentoring program Urban Male Initiative, a program that provides academic support to first generation and minority male students at Malcolm X College that come from underserved communities in the Chicago land area. Within the City Colleges of Chicago, he serves as adjunct faculty for the Urban Male Course at Malcolm-X and Kennedy-King College.

Additionally, Marlon’s active in Mentor Teacher Brother (MTB), a non-profit organization that mentors young African American male high school students in Chicago. MTB is the national philanthropy program for Phi Rho Eta Fraternity, Inc, in which he is a proud member. He currently sits on the Board of Directors for MTB where their current plan is increasing the number of minority males that come from low-income areas, entering into college to obtain degrees. To extend their outreach to young men, they recently purchased a building in the Roseland area to serve as a safe haven for them.
Moreover, Marlon is a Health Disparities Research Fellow working on the BMO Harris Bank grant project in partnership with Rush University, Malcolm X College, and the Medical Home Network. There he does research, designs curriculum and other initiatives to address the socioeconomic and health disparity issues in low-income communities in Chicago.

Still, even with all the work he does with the aforementioned organizations, Marlon felt there was more he could do. He founded Marlon Speaks, LLC, a platform that allows him to use his voice and experiences to promote social change. Marlon has always been passionate about helping to change the community. He believes with the proper training, education, and mentorship that a community can be changed for the better. Hence, he believes in speaking positive words and changing your mindset to create a better environment.