Speakers
Sr. Mary Scullion
Executive director, Project H.O.M.E.
Sr. Mary Scullion R.S.M. is executive director of Project H.O.M.E., a nationally recognized program providing solutions to homelessness and poverty. Sr. Mary has been involved in service work and advocacy for homeless and mentally ill people since 1978, and in 1989, she and Joan Dawson McConnon co-founded Project H.O.M.E. Previously, she co-founded Woman of Hope as well as the Outreach Coordination Center in Philadelphia. Sr. Mary’s advocacy efforts on behalf of the homeless and mentally ill resulted in the right of homeless persons to vote, as well as a landmark federal court decision that affects the fair housing rights of persons with disabilities. She has received numerous awards and honorary doctorates for her leadership in Philadelphia, including the 1992 Philadelphia Award. In 2002, Sr. Mary was awarded an Eisenhower Fellowship, and that same year, she and Ms. McConnon were national awardees of the Ford Foundation’s Leadership for a Changing World Award. In 2009, she was named by Time as one of “the world’s 100 most influential people.” In 2011, she and Ms. McConnon received the Laetare Medal from the University of Notre Dame. Sr. Mary is on the board of the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation and CeaseFire PA, and in 2010, she was appointed by Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter to serve on the city’s board of ethics.
