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.
Joan Dawson McConnon (left) and Sister Mary Scullion, co-founders of the anti-homelessness nonprofit Project HOME, are pictured at JBJ Soul Homes in Fairmount.
By Alfred Lubrano, Philadelphia Inquirer, Updated on Jul 27, 2023, 3 p.m.
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 December 31, 2024, and will be assisting with the 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.”
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,1 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 has adhered to their organization’s now familiar motto: “None of us are home until all of us our home.”
Jon Bon Jovi and Sister Mary Scullion have been partners in fighting homelessness for years.© ED HILLE / Staff Photographer/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS
Unassuming and self-deprecating, Scullion graduated from St. Joseph’s University in 1976 and Temple University’s School of Social Work in 1987. She’s famous for being tireless and tough.
“Believe me, if she needs to tell you off, she will,” said Sam Santiago, the former Philadelphia police officer who’s long worked on Project HOME’s outreach team. “She don’t take no s—.”
Read the full story here
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