Honoring Sister Mary Scullion for her steadfast dedication and tireless advocacy efforts on behalf of Philadelphia's homeless population and for being chosen one of Time Magazines "Worlds Most Influential People" for 2009.

WHEREAS, Sister Mary Scullion has been involved in service work and advocacy for homeless and mentally ill persons since 1978; and

WHEREAS, She was a co-founder in 1985 of Woman of Hope, which provides permanent residences and support services for homeless mentally ill women; and

WHEREAS, In 1988, she helped to found the Outreach Coordination Center, an innovative program coordinating private and public agencies doing outreach to chronically homeless persons in Center City Philadelphia; and

WHEREAS, In 1989, Sister Mary Scullion and Joan Dawson McConnon co-founded Project H.O.M.E., a nationally recognized 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; and

WHEREAS, Project H.O.M.E has grown from an emergency winter shelter to 447 units of housing and three businesses that provide employment to formerly homeless persons, and has helped build the Honickman Learning Center and Comcast Technology Labs, a state-of-the-art digital learning center that's the envy of even the best private schools; and

WHEREAS, More than 95 percent of those who cycle through Project Home never return to life on the streets - a success rate that has made the program a model for dozens of other U.S. cities; and

WHEREAS, Sister Mary has received numerous honorary doctorates for her leadership in the City of Philadelphia. She was also awarded the Liberty Bell Award from the Philadelphia Bar Association, the Prudential National Nonprofit Leadership Award and the 1992 Philadelphia Award. In 2002, Mary was awarded an "Eisenhower Fellowship," and that same year, she and Ms. McConnon were national awardees of the Ford Foundation's prestigious "Leadership for a Changing World Award"; and

WHEREAS, Sister Mary is a powerful voice on political issues affecting homelessness and mentally ill persons. 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; and

WHEREAS, In recognition of all of the wonders she has worked in Philadelphia, Sister Mary Scullion has been chosen one of

Time

Magazine's

"World's Most Influential People" of 2009; now therefore

BE IT RESOLVED, THAT THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, Hereby honor Sister Mary Scullion for her steadfast dedication and tireless advocacy efforts on behalf of Philadelphia's homeless population and for being chosen one of

Time Magazine's

“Worlds Most Influential People” of 2009.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to Sister Mary Scullion as further evidence of the sincere admiration and appreciation of this legislative body.

End