About me
Dan has been the director of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville since February 2009. His work with Habitat follows more than a decade of community service with local housing agencies.
As the Chairman of the Charlottesville Planning Commission, Dan helped initiate a rewrite of the City future land use map and housing strategy using a restorative lens. As a board member for the Piedmont Housing Alliance, he was part of saving 150 of the area’s most vulnerable residents from eviction and, as a founding member of the Friends of Equitable and Affordable Housing, he worked with the future mayor and vice- mayor to elevate fair and affordable housing to the top of the City’s strategic plan. He is currently on the City’s Housing Advisory Committee and periodically teaches courses at the University of Virginia in the Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies Program. He currently serves on the HFHI Advocacy Committee is the former co-chair of HFHI’s Public Policy and Solutions Task Force.
His book, Retro Ballparks: Instant History, Baseball and the New American City (University of Tennessee Press, 2005) explores the political and social implications of urban renewal centered on large-scale, sports-facility-oriented projects.
His 2015 Tedx talk, entitled “Partners Not Saviors – A new model for Mixed Income Communities” asks the question, “What if we could reinvest in communities without displacing, replacing and erasing their cores? And what if we could do it in a way that helps long-time residents embrace and welcome the new, rather than fearing and resenting it?” In his talk, he describes Habitat’s groundbreaking work in appreciative community development and redeveloping trailer parks into mixed income communities without any resident displacement.
Dan’s work pioneering asset-based community development and trailer park transformation earned him the prestigious “Game Changer” award by the Virginia Housing Alliance in 2016.
Dan earned a BA from the University of Texas, an MA from Georgetown University and a PhD in English from the University of Virginia.
