Donnell Nichols dedicates his life to helping mass numbers of people in crisis situations. He’s recently been in the spotlight for leading the search for Avonte Oquendo, the 14-year-old autistic boy who has been missing for weeks.
An emergency management consultant, Nichols has his own company, the C41 Group. He brings together resources and his own tactics in helping in emergency situations.
“With the increase in storms and hazardous weather conditions, there is a need for corporations to focus on disaster preparedness,” he said. “I help companies prepare for disasters and plan operations after disasters.”
A native of the Marcy Houses in Brooklyn, Nichols said he always did volunteer work as a kid. He first assignment was working with the American Red Cross, doing disaster response and community disaster preparedness.
“My mother always told me that rather than work, we should volunteer,” he said.
He worked with the Bed-Stuy Volunteer Ambulance Corp as a trauma trooper. Nichols and a group of neighborhood youth were trained in first aid and CPR and responded to medical calls in the community. Armed with backpacks containing first aid kits, they ran the streets of Bed-Stuy helping out.
But it was the Crown Heights riots that inspired him to reach out to his mentor, then-NYPD Commissioner Richard Murphy, about creating a volunteer ambulance corp in Crown Heights for young African-Americans. The vision became reality, and Nichols was part of the first Black advance life support ambulance in the city.
“I would spend my weekdays after school in a volunteer ambulance corps and finding any activity that allowed me to help in my community,” he said. “At 16 years old, I received a letter from President George Bush Sr. regarding my volunteer work in the community. When I was 17, I received a letter from Department of Youth Services Commissioner Richard Murphy commending me for my service to my community and offering assistance for me to start a volunteer ambulance corps in Crown Heights after the Crown Heights riots.”
By 18, he started volunteering at the Salvation Army Disaster Services Division and was responsible for responding to and working at dozens of disasters in New York City. A veteran, he later joined the U.S. Navy then attended the Navy and Marine Corps Intelligence Training Center, where he obtained a top secret clearance and became a Navy intelligence specialist.
Coming back to New York, he took on a full-time nonpaying position at the Salvation Army Disaster Services Division, where he served as the field operations liaison and was responsible for coordinating responses and operations at major fires and disasters in the city. He notably helped out during the Astoria blackouts in New York.
“My life has been nothing but volunteer work and community development,” he said. “I currently volunteer as an EMT in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, and bring awareness to communities about disaster preparedness and response.”
Nichols added that emergency management and community development are his passions, and he would like to serve in Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio’s Community Assistance Unit.