PRESIDENT

Deuene Hickman is the President and founder of Quality of Life, Inc. He began his journey of mentoring, coaching, and empowering youth more than 20 years ago and has yet to look back. With a deep-rooted passion in helping at-risk youth and their families, Hickman parlayed his business savvy and organizational skills to create a foundation that supports children and families, senior citizens, veterans, and the homeless population. Mr. Hickman has been recognized as one of Hampton’s leaders in philanthropy and voluntarism. Hickman is also the C.E.O. of Quality of Life Counseling Center, a for-profit service dedicated to the preservation of the family unit through individual and family services.

BOARD CHAIR

Danita has fourteen years legislative and administrative experience with a wealth of knowledge in government affairs. She served ten years as Council President for the Village of Highland Hills, Ohio and prior to being elected to Council she served for two years as Clerk/Administrator for Council. She has served as president and an executive board member for the Northeast Ohio City Council Association (NOCCA) facilitating, collaborating, communicating, developing solutions to common problems/concerns, exchanging ideas, gathering information, and developing educational forums for cities and villages. She also served on several steering committees at the National League of Cities (NLC). Danita is also an experienced graphic production artist, with management responsibilities and has several years’ experience managing properties and more than 25 years’ experience creating layouts and designs as a freelance graphic designer.

BOARD VICE CHAIR

Jill Clarke was born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia.  As a native she graduated from Norfolk State University in Interdisciplinary Studies and currently holds a Masters in Entrepreneurial Management from Stratford University.  As a Senior Director of Cybersecurity, Mrs. Clarke brings over 20 years of strategy, operations, and management to Quality of Life. She has successfully led and managed multiple million portfolios for the Department of Defense and commercial clients.  Taking those same skills, Mrs. Clarke has thousands of passion project hours pouring into the community.  Her love and zeal for helping others is what led her to QLI. Mrs. Clarke serves as the Board Chair helping to continue to push and promote the needed strategy, growth and development of organization

BOARD MEMBER

A new transplant to the Hampton Roads area, Lauren brings her background of fundraising and community philanthropy to Quality of Life LLC. Lauren’s 15+ year career in Leadership and Operations will lend to support event planning and relationship building with new donors and sponsors.

BOARD MEMBER

Tiffany Wilson is an experienced outreach coordinator with over 10 years of experience developing and implementing successful outreach strategies that increase visibility and engagement for organizations. With a passion for community engagement and social impact, Tiffany is fully committed to working collaboratively with stakeholders to promote the mission and goals of Quality of Life, Inc. She is excited about making positive changes in the community and using her expertise to help improve the lives of those around her.

BOARD MEMBER

Habi Abu-Bakr, born and raised in Ghana, West Africa, brings a wealth of financial knowledge and literacy to Quality of Life Inc. Habi, was a Director with World Financial Group for several years before venturing off into her own financial practices. As a Director, Habi educates families on financial concepts and help them get on a better path to Financial Independence. Habi has brought many of those learned concepts and best practices to Quality of Life Inc. to help ensure the mission and the vision are upheld.

BOARD MEMBER

Michael Babbs is a graduate of Norfolk State University and Regent University with a diverse background in Education and Project Management. Michael, having delivered over 14 years of progressive expertise in curriculum development and inclusive pedagogy, used his love for community and education to collaborate with families, district-level staff members and school leaders to improve the lives of children. Michael developed and implemented restorative social justice programs and employed inclusionary practices necessary in addressing as well as eliminating concerns on diversity within the school culture and student awareness. As the Dean of School Culture, Michael led initiatives on fostering a community-building circle for teachers and leaders within New Haven, Connecticut, which led to a reduction in school suspensions by 11% and an increase in employment longevity plans by 16%.

BOARD MEMBER

Latoya Delk works to strengthen communities’ efforts in violence reduction and public safety, currently working as the Community Program Associate for Cities United, a national organization that focuses on reducing homicides and shootings within cities, while providing safe, healthy and hopeful opportunities for young black men & boys and their families.  Also serving as the Program Manager for Quality of Life Inc., Latoya takes pride in serving the community, youth and young adults.  Latoya has over 7 years of workforce development, community outreach, violence intervention and case management experience and has worked with a variety of youth and young adults for a vast majority of her career.  She received a B.A in Political Science/Public administration from Norfolk State University and her MBA from Averett University.  She has 3 beautiful children, Kaliyah, Kamani and Amare.