Dave Nichols

Biographical Information
"Dave Nichols is Executive Director of the Center for Sustainable Change and a leader in Three Principles-based community development. Immediately preceding his role as the Center’s Executive Director, Dave, with Ami Chen Mills-Naim, co-directed the Center’s W.K. Kellogg Foundation-funded National Community Resiliency Project (NCRP). For over three years he led the NCRP’s on-site work in Charlotte, NC. For nearly 17 years, Dave was Executive Director of the nonprofit Lakewood Community Development Corporation (Lakewood CDC). Under his leadership, over half of all housing units in the inner-city neighborhood ofLakewood were built new or rehabilitated; public infrastructure there was improved dramatically. Dave began introducing Three Principles programming to Lakewood residents in 2008 and witnessed the transformative effects on the neighborhood, including a significant drop in violent crime. Dave is a BA graduate of Wake Forest University, served for two years as a special short-term missionary in Nigeria and Liberia, obtained a Masters of Divinity degree from Andover Newton Theological School, and utilized his carpentry/cabinetry/design skills owning and operating for 15 years a kitchen/bath/home remodeling business. He served as Director of Habitat for Humanity in Orange County (Chapel Hill, NC) and Director of Neighborhood Housing Services of Charlotte.

"Dave’s focus is on spreading an awareness of the “inside-out” approach to human resiliency among agencies and schools in at-risk communities across the United States."