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 of Lakewood 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 and his wife Chini are the 2012 recipients of the Martin Luther King Jr. Keepers of the Dream Honor Roll Award. The award is presented each year to individuals in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg community who exemplify the ideals of Dr. King. 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. 

Ami is Co-founder and current Education Director of the Center for Sustainable Change and is the author of The Spark Inside: A Special Book for Youth. She has been an international trainer of the Three Principles for over 15 years, as well as a "trainer of trainers." Through her writing, teaching and project leadership, she has made a tremendous impact on spiritual consciousness, globally, and has been instrumental in producing literature and video programs on applications of the Principles with youth, families and in communities across the USA. She is a former Director of the National Community Resiliency Project, funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. In addition, Ami is an award-winning writer and journalist, who hosts her own bi-weekly radio show, "On the Front Porch with Ami Chen: Spiritual Dialogues for the 21st Century." Her current focus is on spreading an understanding of the Principles, the profound potential of our true nature, and the power of love, to help end needless suffering. Her current work at the Center is focused on this mission.

Gabriela Maldonado-Montano has a passion for helping people to discover well-being for and within themselves. She works with youth, parents, communities and organizations to foster a greater understanding and awareness of how human beings function. For 16 years, she has been teaching the Three Principles in diverse settings, particularly with youth in educational and juvenile justice contexts and with multi-cultural communities. She conducts trainings in both Spanish and English. Gabriela’s unique gift lies in her ability to help individuals who are undergoing extreme life circumstances – such as loss, trauma, incarceration, addiction and domestic violence – and their families to navigate their situations with greater strength and peace of mind. Gabriela’s focus is increasingly on organizations, and assisting leaders to understand the connection between state of mind and performance. Her trainings help to foster a healthy, collaborative workplace environment in which staff are self-motivated to go “above and beyond” expectations, ultimately impacting performance. At Center for Sustainable Change, she provides individual coaching and group classes, as well as program development and program delivery for a wide range of the Center’s clients and community partners. She worked for 10 years at Santa Clara County’s 3 Principles Services Division where she directed the Practitioner Internship Program. She served on the Center for Sustainable Change board of directors and then as the Center’s Co-director from 2010 to 2012. 

A.M. Stewart directs resiliency programming at Thomasboro Academy and at Lakewood Preschool Cooperative in Charlotte, North Carolina. A.M. served for two years as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer in the Thomasboro community. At that time, she began working with Center for Sustainable Change as a volunteer. Her warmth and enthusiasm quickly earned her the respect of community residents. A.M. brings her understanding of human resiliency to her role as workshop facilitator and one-on-one coach, helping educators, parents and students to access their innate wisdom. A.M. also contributes her talents in story-telling, photography and videography toward documenting the Center’s work.

Maureen has worked as a communications consultant with a wide range of non-profits, including organizations focused on the environment, indigenous knowledge, and media arts in Canada. An award-winning community newspaper journalist and a freelance writer, Ms. Latta primarily writes for all types of online media, including blogs, websites and e-newsletters. She received her Master of Fine Arts (Creative Writing) from the University of British Columbia, Canada. Apart from managing grants, which support our non-profit work, Maureen writes about CSC projects on our blog.

Dr. Mills was and will remain the only President of the non-profit Center for Sustainable Change.
He was a husband, father and doting grandfather, a kind and gentle man...

Dr. Mills was one of the pioneers in the development, testing and application of a Principles-based psychology.  His pilot-demonstration projects were funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, the U.S. Department of Justice, the National Institute of Drug Abuse, the California Wellness Foundation, and several major private foundations.

Dr. Mills’ work with inner city schools and communities plagued with drugs, crime, welfare dependence and abuse resulted in national innovative projects awards, national network and public television coverage, and foundation and corporate produced documentaries on empowerment, resiliency and change, and unleashing the human potential.

Dr. Mills was the author of Realizing Mental Health (1995), and co-authored other books and publications on the Principles. He published numerous professional journal articles and was an international consultant, speaker and trainer.

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