Gregory Sloane-Seale

Gregory Pelham Sloane-Seale has been working with and on behalf of “at risk” youth at a community level for over 30 years starting in Toronto, Canada in 1989. Gregory continued this work in Trinidad & Tobago when he returned in 1994 after 10 years abroad, holding various positions at the Trinidad & Tobago  YMCA as Youth and Community Outreach Director, YMCA General Secretary and UN Child Rights Representative for the World Alliance of YMCAs. He has also worked throughout the Caribbean region partnering with UNICEF’s Xchange Project which focused on reducing youth related crime and violence. At the World Council Meeting of International YMCA’s Gregory co-facilitated the Child Rights Pavilion and was a major influence in the World YMCA taking a stronger stance globally on Child Rights Issues. 

Gregory received a Paul Harris Fellow Award from the Rotary Club of Port-of-Spain for his dedicated work towards Child/Youth Outreach and commitment to service to building a better T&T.

Gregory was also a member of the first National Plan of Action Committee for Children established under the Ministry of Social Development and has been involved in Child/Youth Rights locally, regionally and internationally since 1996. Over the years he has been on many multi-sectoral committees and Civil Society Boards with a focus on children, youth, gender and community issues. In 2009 Gregory was appointed to the first Board of Management for the Children’s Authority of Trinidad & Tobago and reappointed for a second term in 2012 by then President George Maxwell Richards which came to an end in March 2015.

From 2006 to December 2019 Gregory successfully coordinated the Citizen Security Programme in the Ministry of National Security which achieved its main objectives of reducing levels of crime and violence in specific “high needs” communities in Trinidad and Tobago. From January 2020 to September 2021 Gregory coordinated the setting up of an initiative to treat more specifically with intra and inter community gun violence utilizing a methodology developed by Cure Violence Global based in Chicago, USA. 

In October 2021, Gregory transitioned out of the ministry and is currently employed at Shell T&T Ltd. as their Community Relations Advisor for the English and Dutch speaking Caribbean.

Over his career Gregory has presented his work in Youth & Community Outreach with an emphasis on Crime and Violence Reduction as a Sector Specialist at local, regional and international conferences in St. Kitts, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Jamaica, Guyana, Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, USA, Canada, The Netherlands and Norway to name a few. In December 2015 to date Gregory has been a member of the UN Women Regional Advisory Group on Masculinities focused on promoting progressive male attitudes and behaviours. In 2019, Gregory was part of a consulting team that developed a manual on Violence and Gender Based Violence prevention for the Government of the Bahamas.

Gregory was born and raised in Belmont, Trinidad and attended St. Mary’s College. He is married 28 years to local painter/artist/writer/art educator Tessa Alexander and has three daughters. He holds a BA in Sociology from the University of Windsor, Canada (1989), an MSc in Organisational Management and Leadership from Springfield College, Massachusetts (2006) and a certificate in Urban Crime and Violence Prevention from the World Bank Institute, Washington DC (2011).