Damon Thompson, LCSW-C, President & CEO
Damon Thompson, LCSW-C, joined the Hearts and Homes for Youth family as the new President and CEO on March 4, 2024, bringing with him over 20 years of invaluable leadership experience. In addition to his exceptional leadership skills, Damon’s clinical expertise is deeply rooted in nurturing and healing vulnerable populations, guiding them towards recovery from trauma within a safe and nurturing environment.
A passionate child advocate, Damon is prepared to guide Hearts and Homes for Youth into its next chapter, building upon nearly 60 years of impactful service. With his unwavering dedication and visionary leadership, Damon is ready to lead the organization towards new heights, ensuring its continued legacy of support and empowerment for the youth we serve.
Paul Clement, Senior Vice President / CFO/CAO
Paul has worked for Hearts & Homes since 2010, managing finances and budgets. Paul began as the organization’s Controller and was promoted to the position of CFO in 2013. In his role as CFO, Paul assures that the organization maintains financial stability, complying with contracts and licensing requirements with state agencies.
Paul holds a BA from the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Paul’s favorite part of working for Hearts & Homes is “seeing the success of our adolescents and watching them grow within our programs.”
Olusola (Olu) Bright, Vice President/Director of Human Resources
Olu has been in charge of efforts to recruit well-seasoned staff for Hearts & Homes. As VP of Human Resources, Olu manages all efforts related to organizational development, policy development and documentation, employee relations, personnel records, training, recruitment, and staffing. Olu oversees adherence to COMAR regulations, keeping personnel records in compliance with staff licenses and managing employee relations.
Olu received her Bachelor of Arts in Health Care Administration and Policy from University of Maryland Baltimore County.
When asked about her work for the agency, Olu remarks, “my work is driven and inspired by the staff who invest their hearts into their work and go beyond the call of duty.”
Nicole Smith, LCSW-C, Vice President/Director of Operations
Nicole earned her Master’s in Social Work from University of Maryland-Baltimore. She was offered a job with Maryland’s Department of Juvenile Services and eagerly accepted after having a rewarding internship experience with the Department during Graduate School. She worked for DJS for nearly six years gaining multitudes of experience and knowledge, including applying trauma-informed approaches, working on a multidisciplinary team, and utilizing non-violent crisis intervention techniques.
Nicole then took a leap to broaden her professional experiences. She accepted a job as Program Manager for a Residential Crisis home where she continued to apply her clinical skills working with adults in mental health crises, while starting to develop supervisory and administrative skills. As wonderful and educational as this role was, her heart remained with the juvenile population.
Coming to work for Hearts and Homes as the Clinical Director seemed like the perfect way to apply all of Nicole’s professional experiences while allowing her to once again feel the fulfillment of working with the population whom she is serving. She is very passionate about helping youth gain the skills and confidence needed to become successful adults.
Nicole has been a Licensed Clinical Social Worker since 2017 and became a Board Approved Supervisor in 2020. She is a Certified Youth Mental Health First Aid trainer. She also provides individual therapy to kids and young adults in a private practice setting.
Lucinda Richards, LMSW, Program Director for Damamli & TFC
Lucy Richards is Hearts and Homes Program Director for our TFC and Damamli Program. Lucy started out as a Clinical Case Manager and is now the Program Director for this program. She’s very passionate about working with foster children, specifically in supporting our youth as they get ready to age out of care. With her past experience in mental health, counseling, housing, and working with the homeless population, she uses her past work experience to strengthen her relationships and connections, both with foster youth and also with HHY’s community networks. Lucy is looking forward to improving the independent living experience for foster youth, coming up with training initiatives to increase youth involvement, and supporting her case managers from a leadership standpoint.
Lucy received a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Sociology from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, and her Master’s degree in Social Work at California State University at Long Beach.
In her free time, Lucy enjoys hiking and staying active.
Robin Colbert, Program Director
Robin began her career with the Agency in 2018 and worked for a year and a half as a Residential Counselor and then Senior Counselor. She returned in 2020 as the Program Manager at Mary’s Mount Manor, and helped stabilize and build the program.
Robin has her Bachelors in Accounting from Francis Marion University, and a Masters in Economic Development from Peru State University.
While completing her Masters at Peru State, she learned that she had a passion for mentoring and developing youth.
“Working at Hearts and Homes has truly been a pleasure, and I plan to continue helping shape and mold our youth into young adults.”