About Us
Creating Meaningful Impact
At Damian's Village of Hope, we are dedicated to making a difference in the lives of families with special needs children. Our story began with the unwavering love of our founder, Jackie Gant, whose personal journey inspired a vision of support, care and community.
We offer a holistic approach, essential resources, specialized appointments, and advocacy assistance to ensure that every child receives the nurturing environment they deserve. With over two decades of experience, we stand as a beacon of hope, embracing diversity, empowering dreams, and fostering resilience. Our mission is simple: to make every child's potential a reality.
Meet Our Chief Executive Officer
As the Chief Executive Officer and President of the Board, I am very committed to addressing the need for services, trainings and finding resources to help families care for their medically fragile and special needs children. I am proud to serve alongside a Board of Directors with a knowledge base of working with community members and program development who understand the importance of using one’s voice to be heard when it comes to the vulnerable population - children.
The goal of Damian’s Village is to locate and share resources with families to help them address and provide their child a better quality of life and to support families to be the voice of their children when it comes to being an advocate – standing side by side a family – to build a village of support. As a graduate of Harvard University, Graduate School of Education and proud enrolled member of the Oneida Nation of the Thames, I would like to continue to be of service to the Native American community and with my previous experience as a foster parent, being an adoptive parent, along with my years in Child Welfare, the corporate sector, legal profession, and 25 years of work in the nonprofit sector will allow me the opportunity to share the knowledge, skills, training and resources I have gathered, along with my understanding of navigating through the red tape, and assist families to get what is needed for their child/children.
Let me guide you, Let me eliminate your frustration, and Let Damian’s Village be your resource guide, hence, we are a community organization and we are here to partner with other organizations to get those resources and services in the hands of our families – there are plenty of families in need who have given up on the “system” but we won’t give up in getting what is needed for families, it takes a village of support and we are the support for all families in need of services, resources, advocacy and guidance.
Meet Our Board Members
Carina Jackson
Board Member
Board Member
Carina Jackson
Carina Jackson serves as the Chief Operations Officer at Mariners Inn in Detroit, overseeing residential programs and facilities for this human services organization established in 1925. With a diverse background in education, entrepreneurship, and government, Carina co-founded Youth Vision in 2002, impacting over 400 youth in Southwest Detroit with after-school programs and summer camps.
Engaging in local politics, Carina played a vital role in Saunteel Jenkins' successful 2010 campaign for Detroit City Council, later becoming her Chief of Staff. Their collaboration addressed critical issues on the Youth Violence Prevention Task Force, General Pension Board, and various committees.
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Carina's commitment to growth is evident through her participation in esteemed fellowships, including the German Marshall Memorial Fund (2013), Leadership Detroit Class XXXVII (2016), 92Y Ford Foundation, and WK Kellogg-Center for Creative Leadership Class 2 (2019). Recently, Carina has shared her personal journey on Instagram @justcarinajackson, emphasizing triumphs over physical and mental barriers, challenging norms with her distinctive style of purple hair and pearls.
"I accompanied Jackie on the day she picked Damian up from the hospital. Despite the initial fear due to Damian's fragility, Jackie exhibited unwavering confidence and love when holding her child. Witnessing this moment, I knew Damian would have a safe and secure home with Jackie. Under Jackie Gant's dynamic leadership, Damian's Village is set to provide invaluable support and resources for mothers of special needs children. Jackie's personal experiences and resilience ensure that these mothers receive the care and understanding they deserve, having navigated many storms herself."
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Mary Ann Vantrease
Board Secretary
Mary Ann is a mother of 6 wonderful and lovely grown children and currently a licensed foster parent for 30 years. Mary Ann has adopted children and has been in the lives of many children placed in her home with challenges far beyond our imagination. Mary Ann says, "it's the amount of time you give to a child to help them heal from their trauma and to provide the child with a stable and loving home but having patience in helping the child is the key and to be able to relate to them is a gift". But, then to see the child adopted by a forever family and to watch the forever family continue the healing journey - it's a family being born together as they experience the joy of new adventures together-making memories this is what fostering is all about and the pure joy I feel when I see the smiles on the children's faces as they wave good-bye to start their new life. Mary Ann's mission is of service and enjoys her role as a foster parent - a reason why I wanted to be a part of Damian's Village is to see how our mission can be of service to families, we want to share our resources and spread the word to families and to let families know we are your support and assistance is available to you during your journey in caring for your special child - foster or adopted. I look forward to serving as a board member and to watch Damian's Village grow in its outreach efforts and promoting our mission of SERVICE.
Wanda Hess
Board Member
Wanda Hess
Board Member
A wife, mother, grandmother, and a working professional and Native Tribal Member from the Oneida Nation of the Thames and I believe in giving back to your community, especially our Elders, and being a loving parent while guiding your children to become good people and respectful to your tribal Elders and traditions. I attended college for accounting, and I retired from the Detroit Public School System where I worked as a paraprofessional in the classroom understanding the importance of being a person a
child can trust and available to them in their time of crisis. I truly understand how our children and families need assistance in finding services or helping them to get through the process to obtain those services, it can be overwhelming and, therefore “the gap gets bigger, and families do not receive services”.
Why have I decided to be a part of the organization?
As a parent, who was in need of help and direction in completing forms for a service my child needed, I was very impressed with the knowledge and patience I received from Damian’s Village in helping me to obtain the services for my child - demonstrating to me the need to be involved with the organization and appreciate their mission of providing resources and be an advocate for the parent is truly going to help many families, Damian’s Village will change their lives by assisting with services or resources needed in order to help continue to care for their child on a daily basis.