Advocate for Homeless to Give Principal Address at 2016 Undergraduate Commencement
Sister Mary Scullion, co-founder, executive director and president of Project HOME, will serve as the principal speaker at the University’s undergraduate commencement Sunday, May 29, at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, Wilkes-Barre.
The University of Scranton announced that Sister Mary Scullion, R.S.M., co-founder, executive director and president of Project HOME (Housing, Opportunities for Employment, Medical Care, Education), will be the principal speaker at its undergraduate commencement on Sunday, May 29, She will also receive an honorary degree from the University at the ceremony.
“Sister Mary has dedicated nearly 40 years of her life to caring for and advocating on behalf of the homeless, the poor and those suffering from mental illness. She has led programs that have enabled thousands to break the cycle of poverty. Students and our guests can learn well from her wisdom and virtue. We are grateful to have her as our principal speaker,” said University of Scranton President Kevin P. Quinn, S.J.
Time Magazine selected Sister Mary among the 100 “World’s Most Influential People” in 2009. Others listed included President Barack and Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, Brad Pitt and Tina Fey. The Time Magazine profile, which noted Sister Mary’s humility and “famously ribald sense of humor,” said more than 95% of those served by Project HOME “have never again returned to life on the streets – a success rate that has made the program a model for dozens of other U.S. cities.”
Founded in 1989 by Sister Mary and Joan Dawson McConno, Project HOME is a Philadelphia-based organization that provides supportive housing, employment, education and health care to enable chronically homeless and low-income persons to break the cycle of homelessness and poverty.
Under their leadership, Project HOME has grown from an emergency winter shelter to more than 700 housing units and three businesses that provide employment to formerly homeless persons, as well as health care and wellness services and initiatives intended to prevent homelessness. The organization has received national accolades and support by celebrities such as Jon Bon Jovi.
Project Home’s initiative in North Philadelphia aimed at preventing homelessness includes economic development, homeownership for the working poor, and the Honickman Learning Center and Comcast Technology Labs, a state-of-the-art technology center that offers comprehensive educational and occupational programming.
In 2015 Project HOME opened the Stephen Klein Wellness Center, which provides integrated health care to the homeless and is located in the second poorest ZIP code in Philadelphia. The Center provides primary care, behavioral health, dental care, and a YMCA, as well as pharmacy and wellness services.
In addition to Project Hope, Sister Mary was a co-founder of Woman of Hope, and, 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.
Sister Mary is also a leader on political issues affecting homelessness and persons with mental illness Her advocacy efforts 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.
Sister Mary has received numerous honors and awards in recognition of her work, including the 2011 Citizen of the Year by the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Eisenhower Fellowship in 2002 and the Distinguished Alumnus Eisenhower Award in 2010. In addition, Sister Mary and Joan Dawson McConnon received the Laetare Medal from the University of Notre Dame in 2011. She has received honorary degrees from several colleges, including La Salle University, Haverford College, Widener University and Temple University.
Sister Mary serves on the Board of Trustees of St. Joseph’s University; the Board of the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation and chaired the Hunger and Homelessness Committee for Pope Francis’s visit to Philadelphia in 2015. She received her bachelor’s degree from St. Joseph’s University and her master’s degree from Temple University. University of Scranton’s undergraduate commencement ceremony will be held at the Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza, Wilkes-Barre, on Sunday, May 29, at noon.
