Lorie Nicholas grew up in New York City during an era when the word community meant that neighbors looked out for each other, and people took care of each other. With this foundation, Lorie always believed in volunteering and giving back. During college, Lorie volunteered with several projects, which included the Human Companion Animal Bond Program at the Animal Medical Center. This program reached out to seniors, the physically handicapped, and blind children and adults to engage them in being able to socialize with the animals and their handlers. Lorie Nicholas also served for two years as a Mentor to a high school student. As a result of being a successful mentor-mentee pair, Lorie and her mentee appeared as a guest speaker on a panel discussion of the Mentor Now Symposium hosted by channel 13, and was interviewed for articles on mentoring by the Daily News magazine, El Vocero, and the Amsterdam News (June 1990).
While in graduate school, Lorie volunteered for four years with a gang program She had the opportunity to work in all of the components of the program which included gang prevention with junior high school students, gang intervention in which she worked directly with the female gangs exposing them to alternative opportunities, and the safe schools/safe neighborhoods campaign.
Dr. Nicholas has an extensive background in counseling, teaching, and research. Here research interest include stress management, race related concerns, substance abuse, violence, and the criminal justice system. Dr. Nicholas is currently a Staff Psychologist at the Federal Bureau of Prisons. She is part of a team of Psychologists, responsible for providing acute crisis intervention, suicidal risk assessments and overall mental health services to both male and female federal inmates. Dr. Nicholas also serves as an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Law, Police Science and Criminal Justice Administration, and the Department of Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (CUNY). She holds a doctorate in Clinical-Community Psychology. Dr. Nicholas has presented at many conferences and conducted workshops and trainings (see below).
As a result of Dr. Nicholas extensive career, she is now branching off into building her own business- Dream Builders United Incorporated in collaboration with Marc Grant, Co-Founder and CEO of Success Connection Team, Corp. Dream Builders United Incorporated was created out of Dr. Nicholas vision to help individuals and families achieve the dream of home ownership and financial freedom. Dr. Nicholas has actively participated in many community projects designed to help low income, inner city youth and their families, African American males/fathers, gang members, foster care youth, pregnant teens, and homeless populations to empower themselves, their families and their communities. The one factor that always stood out throughout her work was the problem families had with keeping and maintaining their home, and more importantly, was the public housing conditions that many of these families were subjected to. Even Dr. Nicholas had a personal experience. While renting an apartment, her bathroom ceiling fell in, making it visible for her neighbors above to look down into her apartment. It took over a month to get this problem fixed, which was finally resolved when Dr. Nicholas consulted with tenant rights and was prepared to take legal action. While working at Yale University, School of Medicine, Dr. Nicholas was actively involved in evaluating a shelter program for homeless people with psychiatric and drug addicted disabilities. Residents of this program were interviewed on their transition living in an apartment after years of homelessness. Dr. Nicholas also co-facilitated tenant support group meetings. Dr. Nicholas found this experience to be rewarding, because of her ability to make a difference in the lives of people.
Dr. Nicholas invested interest in home ownership for families and providing financial literacy through education also came as a result of another personal experience when Dr. Nicholas fell victim to the subprime economic downsizing (refer to Dr. Nicholas article as a co-author in "The Law of Business Attraction"). As a result of her commitment to community, and making a difference in the lives of people, Dream Builders United Incorporated strives to help individuals and families obtain home ownership, educate and empower families around financial literacy, and help families build a legacy of financial freedom through finding their life's purpose.
Dr. Nicholas is an inspirational/motivational speaker, real estate investor, entrepreneur, and author. Leading through experience and inspiration, Dr. Nicholas is the CEO of Dream Builders United Inc.
Dr. Nicholas is available for speaking engagements and trainings, and can be reached at info@dreambuildersunited.com.
"To whom much is given, much is expected"
