Quentin Walcott

Quentin Walcott, known as “Q,” is a leading national and international anti-violence activist, educator and writer. He is one of the U.S leaders selected by the NoVo Foundation to participate in its groundbreaking Move to End Violence initiative, a 10-year program to strengthen the movement to end gender-based violence in the United States. He’s also a member of the Resonance Network‘s Governance Committee. In 2018, Quentin was selected to serve on the NYC Domestic Violence Task Force Steering Committee and was appointed to the NYC Mental Health Advisory Group.

A hallmark of Quentin’s work over the past 22 years has been engaging men and boys as allies and activists in the movement to prevent intimate and gender-based violence. The foundation of Quentin’s work is a focus on the intersections of violence—race, class and gender—and its impact on marginalized communities. He is co-founder and chief organizer of the Father’s Day Pledge Against Violence, an annual event established in 2010 and which is observed in 50+ U.S. cities. Quentin was a speaker at the first White House United State of Women Summit (2016) on gender equality, and shared the dais with TV actor and activist Matt McGorry.

Quentin was awarded the United NationsTrust Fund to End Violence Against Women Award in 2014. He was the first man to receive the NOW-NYC Susan B. Anthony Award (2012). As Co-Executive Directors of CONNECT, Quentin and Rev. Dr. Sally MacNichol were jointly named New York New Abolitionists in 2014.

Prior to taking the helm of CONNECT in 2013, Quentin developed the CONNECT Training Institute (CTI), the leading anti-violence learning facility in NYC, and was director of CONNECT’s Community Empowerment Program. Quentin partnered with Cornell University ILR School to create Men and Women as Allies, an in-depth training for corporations and labor unions to respond to and prevent Domestic Violence in the workplace violence, bullying behavior and workplace violence. Quentin was invited to be a member of SEIU’s External Advisory Committee, to review and enhance the union’s policies on sexual harassment.

After graduating college, Mr. Walcott was mentored by Dr. John Aponte, the foremost leader in batterers’ intervention in New York City, and began his life work in 1996 facilitating batterers’ intervention programs and various other groups for men and youth throughout the five boroughs. For 6 years, he co-chaired the NYC Coalition on Working with Abusive Partners, which is comprised of representatives of organizations concerned with preventing and ending abusive behavior in abusive intimate relationships. Quentin partnered with V-Day Artistic Director Eve Ensler to create and bring V-Men programming to New York City in 2006.

Quentin has participated in international anti-violence forums and led trainings in Brazil, Canada, Fiji, France, India, Kenya, Saint Martin, South Africa, Switzerland and Thailand.