Charles Avery

Charles Avery (Col ’72) has been leading The Nehemiah Project DC, a federally funded housing program which helps men transition to society following incarceration, while also consulting on other mental health matters. He also serves as the president of the Loudoun Douglass School Alumni Association and co-chaired the effort to preserve and restore the school, which has been designated as a historic landmark. Avery, who was valedictorian of the last class of the segregated school, received a 2023 Charles Hamilton Houston Equity and Justice award from Loudoun County NAACP in recognition of his work. 

Avery took on these projects after completing 11 years as the executive director of Veterans On the Rise, a non-profit dedicated to providing a holistic system of care to fight veteran homelessness in the Washington D.C. area.