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The July 27, 2023 Philadelphia Inquirer headline by Alfred Lubrano reads, “Sister Mary Scullion to step down as head of anti-homelessness nonprofit Project HOME.”
As Lubrano reported, “Associate Executive Director Joan Dawson McConnon is also leaving. The pair worked for 34 years building the nationally known $52 million operation that has helped thousands experiencing homelessness.”
“Sister Mary Scullion, the powerhouse advocate and street angel fueled by enough ‘bad-ass rebel energy’ to minister to multitudes of people experiencing homelessness, will be leaving her job as president and executive director of the nationally renowned Project HOME.
“Joan Dawson McConnon, the associate executive director who co-founded the Philadelphia nonprofit with Scullion in 1989, will also be stepping down.
“Scullion will remain in her role through Dec. 31, 2024, and will be helping with leadership transition through June 30, 2025. McConnon will stay on through June 30, 2024, then will consult through the end of the year.
“‘We’ve done the best we can. It’s time for someone else to come in,’ Scullion, 70, said during an interview earlier this week, occasionally crying softly. ‘The work has been such a blessing.’
McConnon, 63, said, ‘We have had a unique relationship, but we both realize it’s really time to move aside.’”
Lubrano explains, “In 34 years, Scullion and McConnon grew Project HOME from a winter shelter in South Philadelphia where volunteers washed dishes in a washing machine, to a formidable institution with 1,000 units of housing in 19 residences across the city.
“The nonprofit has a $52 million operating budget, one million square feet of real estate, dozens of programs, and a staff of 450 that’s helped countless people in need find homes, improve their health, become educated, and get jobs.
“Throughout, the duo have adhered to their organization’s now familiar motto: ‘None of us are home until all of us are home.’”
Since 1989, Project HOME has helped thousands of people break the cycle of homelessness and poverty.
This is accomplished by providing a continuum of services which includes street outreach, supportive housing and comprehensive services focusing on health care, education and employment.
Both adult and youth education and enrichment programs are based at the Honickman Learning Center Comcast Technology Labs and community-based health care services are centered at the Stephen Klein Wellness Center.
Project HOME and its partners have pledged to end chronic street homelessness in Philadelphia, housing 2,200 people.
Of these, 1,000 people have been long-term street homeless, 200 youth who are homeless and/or aging out of foster care, and 1,000 people who are homeless on the street and addicted but ready for recovery and work.
The leadership team at Project HOME is dedicated to empowering individuals to break the cycle of poverty and homelessness through its lived mantra of affordable housing, employment, health care, and education.
Sister Mary Scullion, President and Executive Director, has been involved in service work and advocacy for homeless and mentally ill persons since 1978.
Scullion was a co-founder, in 1985, of Woman of Hope, which provides permanent residential and support services for homeless, mentally ill women.
In 1988, she founded the first Outreach Coordination Center in the nation, an innovative program coordinating private and public agencies doing outreach to chronically homeless persons living on the street.
Under the leadership of Scullion and McConnon, Project HOME has grown from an emergency winter shelter to nearly 1000 units of housing and two businesses which provide employment to formerly homeless persons.
Project HOME also prevents homelessness in a low-income neighborhood in North Philadelphia. This initiative includes economic development and promoting home ownership for the working poor.
To foster these efforts, the Honickman Learning Center Comcast Technology Labs, a 38,000 square foot, state-of-the-art technology center offers comprehensive educational and occupational programming.
In 2015, Project HOME opened the Stephen Klein Wellness Center, a model for integrated health care including primary care, behavioral health, dental, a YMCA, pharmacy and wellness services.
This invaluable Center, located in the second poorest zip code in Philadelphia, effectively serves those who are homeless.
Sister Mary Scullion is also a powerful voice on political issues affecting homelessness and mentally ill persons.
Her advocacy efforts have resulted in the right of homeless persons to vote as well as in a landmark federal court decision which affects the fair housing rights of persons with disabilities.
Sister Scullion has received numerous honorary doctorates for her leadership including those issued by Georgetown University and University of Pennsylvania.
Selected by Time Magazine as one of the “World’s Most Influential People in 2009,” Sister Mary and Joan Dawson McConnon also received the Laetare Medal from the University of Notre Dame.
Sister Mary has served on the Board of Trustees of her Alma Mater, St. Joseph’s University, and on the Board of the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation.
Notably, Sister Scullion also chaired the Hunger and Homelessness Committee for Pope Francis’s visit to Philadelphia in 2015.
Please keep in mind that your spirit of generosity holds the key to Project HOME’s Future.
Donation levels begin at $25, and anything which you can afford will be much appreciated: https://give.projecthome.org/campaign/crowdfunding-landing-page/c490427
Mary Brown, a weekly columnist for Main Line Media News, teaches Latin at Saint Joseph’s University.
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