A healer, leader and counselor. An overcomer.
For the past ten years, Gerrel Jones has dedicated his life to training schools, churches and communities to support underserved populations and put the neighbor back in neighborhood.
Gerrel speaks to corporations, universities and community organizations around the U.S. about how to support their people and become agents of change too. He’s the Founder and Executive Director of Pneuma Gallery, a nonprofit that helps strengthen communities and supports programs for re-entry, addiction recovery, homelessness and family dysfunction.
At home in Birmingham, Alabama, Gerrel also mentors troubled children. Trauma shapes their lives and often drives it; he knows this from his own life. He works to earn their trust, help them understand their trauma and find a path toward healing and a better life.
One of the first (and only) male violence reduction specialists in Alabama, he mentors, heals and leads from the heart. He also does it from experience.
Born into generational crime, poverty and abuse, Gerrel committed armed robbery by the time he was 9, drug trafficking at 19 and homicide at 24. Trauma was his foundation too; he was broken, angry, lost. Then he turned himself in and started a life sentence.
For years, he mentored young men in prison and kept in touch with a white police officer named Dana Marsh. Officer Marsh had arrested Gerrel in his past life and was the person Gerrel turned to when he hit rock bottom.
Through his work in prison and Marsh’s advocacy, Gerrel earned parole after 20 years. Their bond demonstrates the power of personal relationships against the threats of racism, cancel culture and generational trauma.
Gerrel brings a unique perspective to his speaking engagements on the pervasiveness of trauma in our culture, the traumatic effects of racism on all races and how we can come together as one people to heal, grow and progress.
That’s what makes him one of today’s most coveted and essential speakers for corporations, schools, universities and community organizations.
“
”
Meet Gerrel Jones.
A healer, leader, counselor. An overcomer.
For the past ten years, Gerrel Jones has dedicated his life to training schools, churches and communities to support underserved populations and put the neighbor back in neighborhood.
Gerrel speaks to corporations, universities and community organizations around the U.S. about how to support their people and become agents of change too. He’s Founder and Executive Director of Pneuma Gallery, a nonprofit that helps strengthen communities and supports programs for re-entry, addiction recovery, homelessness and family dysfunction.
At home in Birmingham, Alabama, Gerrel also mentors troubled children. Trauma shapes their lives and often drives it; he knows this from his own life. He works to earn their trust, help them understand their trauma and find a path toward healing and a better life.
One of the first (and only) male violence reduction specialists in Alabama, he mentors, heals and leads from the heart. He also does it from experience.
Born into generational crime, poverty and abuse, Gerrel committed armed robbery by the time he was 9, drug trafficking at 19 and homicide at 24. Trauma was his foundation too; he was broken, angry, lost. Then he turned himself in and started a life sentence.
For years, he mentored young men in prison and kept in touch with a white police officer named Dana Marsh. Officer Marsh had arrested Gerrel in his past life and was the person Gerrel turned to when he hit rock bottom.
Through his work in prison and Marsh’s advocacy, Gerrel earned parole after 20 years. Their bond demonstrates the power of personal relationships against the threats of racism, cancel culture and generational trauma.
Gerrel brings a unique perspective to his speaking engagements on the pervasiveness of trauma in our culture, the traumatic effects of racism on all races and how we can come together as one people to heal, grow and progress.
That’s what makes him one of today’s most coveted and essential speakers for corporations, schools, universities and community organizations.
Recent Speaking Engagements
John Howard Association (Chicago IL), Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 101
Tiger 21 New York Chapter, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 101
Tiger 21 Chicago Chapter, Menace to Miracle: The Gerrel Jones Story
Tiger 21 Los Angeles Chapter, Menace to Miracle: The Gerrel Jones Story
Lourdes University (Sylvania OH), Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 101
Latter Rain Conference (Montgomery AL), The Role of Faith in Social Activism
Birmingham Violence Reduction Initiative, Overcoming Criminality
University of Alabama, Birmingham, Overcoming Childhood Trauma and Incarceration
University of Alabama, Birmingham, The Psychological Effects of Race Discrimination on the American Citizen
Miles College (Fairfield AL), The Effects of Jim Crow on the African American Ethos
District 8 Man Up Conference (Birmingham AL), Menace to Miracle: The Gerrel Jones Story
Honor Ceremony for Civil Rights Icon Reverend Jonathan McPherson (Birmingham AL), The Psychological Effects of Race Discrimination on the American Citizen
Making Ensley Great Stakeholders Conference (Birmingham AL),“Cooperative Community Revitalization”
Pneuma Gallery (Birmingham AL),“Changing Social Norms: The Root of Community Revitalization”
Coming Soon:
Novel, Menace to Miracle: The Gerrel Jones Story