I help governments, foundations, and community organizations design and evaluate place-based programs.

Climate, housing, economic development, and beyond.

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My work centers on place-based initiatives: programs rooted in specific communities, cities, regions, and institutions.

Whether in climate resilience, housing, workforce development, transportation, public health, or smart cities, success depends on learning from what’s happening on the ground and adapting in real time.

I help organizations build the systems and habits to do exactly that.

How We Turn Your Experience Into Learning

Checklist of services with green checkmarks: Workshops, Toolkits & How-To's, Data Dashboards & Tracking Systems, Advisory Calls, Partnerships, Engaging Talks.
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Three illustrated educational posters on a black background. The first poster titled 'Data Toolkit' shows a person holding a large, colorful book labeled 'Data'. The second poster titled 'Logic Model' displays a circular diagram with various interconnected sections and the goal of 'Equitable access to high-quality jobs'. The third poster titled 'Pathway to Resilience' features a chart with icons representing housing, neighborhoods, programs, and resident resilience, with an arrow indicating progress.

Our Services

Supporting organizations in building lasting learning systems for community impact.

  • Before launch. Program guidelines, logic models, outcome frameworks, stakeholder alignment, and governance structures.

  • Once it's running. evaluation frameworks, dashboards, learning reviews, and the story products that make your results legible to funders and communities. These include impact reports, data narratives, interactive tools.

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A Learning Framework for Navigating Complex Trade-Offs

Place-based initiatives sit at the intersection of economic opportunity, social equity, and climate goals. Progress in one area often creates tension in another.

The Triangle helps organizations navigate these tensions by strengthening how decisions are made—not just what decisions are made.

It focuses on three core capacities:

  • Clarity & Focus

  • Trust, People & Power

  • Tradeoffs & Courage

Why Well-Intentioned Programs Lose Momentum

Organizations committed to community benefit launch ambitious programs every day.

Over time, many programs struggle with:

  • Unclear or shifting outcomes

  • Fragmented decision-making

  • Limited feedback from communities

  • Overburdened staff and partners

  • Declining confidence and trust

The shift we support is about building practical learning systems that help teams reflect, adapt, and improve together.

Learn How This Works in Practice
Infographic titled "From Mistrust to Momentum" illustrating four stages of change. The first stage shows broad outcomes with a person questioning with arrows and images of diverse people and a globe. The second stage depicts unclear, shifting plans with chaotic scribbles and a person filling out a focused plan. The third stage has confused stakeholders with a person at a desk with charts and a team in discussion. The fourth stage displays community distrust with a person looking skeptical and diverse community members engaging positively.

Stories

  • A colorful diagram titled 'Measuring What Matters: A Success Framework for We Prosper Together' with three interconnected circles in red, green, and blue, illustrating strategies to achieve equitable access to high-quality jobs. The diagram is labeled 'The Goal' at the center, with the overarching goal of 'Equitable access to High Quality Jobs.' The bottom section features logos for 'We Prosper Together,' 'California Jobs First,' and 'Valley Vision,' along with the text 'The Triangle April 2025.'

    Program Design & Evaluation: Valley Vision

  • Cover page of a document titled 'NEOM' with Arabic script beneath it, featuring a colorful abstract geometric design of intertwined shapes, and text about a study on emerging and emergent city technologies.

    Program Design: The LINE, NEOM - Saudi Arabia

  • Cover page of the Community Economic Resilience Fund (CERF) Data Toolkit, featuring logos of the Labor & Workforce Development Agency, California Office of Planning and Research, and California Department of Finance, dated April 2023.

    Data Toolkit Design: California Jobs First - California Governor's Office

  • A modern multi-story housing building with white and wood exterior, large windows, and a concrete driveway. Text overlays read: 'Measuring & Communicating Success Connecting affordable housing & mental health,' 'Supportive Housing Community Land Alliance,' 'Outreach by Design,' 'The Triangle,' and '2025.'

    Program Design & Evaluation: Supportive Housing Community Land Alliance, Oakland, California

  • Cover page of a data toolkit document titled "How to Use Data to Drive Community Impact," featuring an illustration of diverse people gathered around a table, and a graph with an arrow pointing upward.

    Activate Data: The ACT framework & Data Toolkit

Valley Vision worked with Nader to develop measurable goals and metrics for a multi-county inclusive economic development initiative. Nader brought extensive expertise to our project and was able to walk us through a process that engaged our core stakeholders and resulted in a comprehensive set of measurable and prioritized metrics for our work. This work clarified our purpose and set the stage for deeper work to ensure accountability towards the types of community change we want to create. Nader was personable and accessible for our staff and our stakeholders and we appreciated the experience and results of working with him.

Evan Schmidt, CEO of Valley Vision

Portrait of a woman with short brown hair, wearing a navy blue top and gold hoop earrings, smiling against a blurred background.

It's often easy to think that we just need more data or information to answer resilience questions, but in Nader's half day workshop focused on developing regional climate resilience profiles for community impact, our students gained valuable skills for asking a targeted questions, performing rapid assessments using free online tools, and drawing preliminary conclusions from the exercise. We are excited to work with the Triangle team again! 

Sarah Eminhizer, Director, of the Coastal Climate Resilience Program at UC Santa Cruz

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Partnered With

State of California Department of Fish and Wildlife emblem featuring a bear, a star, a fish, and a sun with rays, all enclosed in a circular border with the text 'State of California Department of Fish and Wildlife'.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service logo featuring a stylized flower with a circular center, two leaves, and surrounding text that reads "United States Federal Protection."
U.S. Department of Energy logo with a shield emblem featuring a bird, a lightning bolt, a sun, and other symbols, and the words "U.S. Department of Energy" and "Energy" in bold letters.
Logo of Berkeley, University of California with the university seal and text 'Berkeley University of California'.
Harvard University logo with shield emblem featuring book and torch symbols.
Logo of the Xi'an Jiaotong University with a bird at the center, surrounded by Chinese characters and the text 'XJTU 1891'
Logo of the American Planning Association with the tagline "Creating Great Communities for All."
The Geoversity logo features a stylized globe with interconnected lines and leaves. Below the logo, the text reads "Geoversity" and the tagline "Nature's University."
Logo of California Interagency Council on Homelessness featuring an abstract house icon and text.
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Urban Footprint logo in grayscale with a stylized geometric icon to the left of the text.
Gray 3D logo for Planetizen Courses with a geometric shape and shadowed text
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