Washington, D.C — Sister Mary Scullion, RSM, founder of Project H.O.M.E., a Philadelphia-based program working with homeless people, and an advisor to FADICA, has been chosen among Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world.
The announcement was included in the March 30 edition of the publication.
Sister Scullion spoke to the FADICA group earlier in the year as it was exploring ways in which foundations and community-based programs can work more effectively in collaboration with one another.
The discussion was part of a FADICA conference entitled: Reinventing Catholic Philanthropy.
Over the past twenty years, Sr. Scullion developed over five hundred units of housings and developed three businesses that offer job training to the homeless.
Over 95% of the homeless who cycle through Project H.O.M.E. never again become homeless, a success rate that has made the effort a model for dozens of other cities.
Sister Scullion has cut the homeless population of Philadelphia in half through her success.
She attributed the astonishing results to collaboration and partnership within the Philadelphia community, especially citing the early and consistent support of the Connolly Foundation, a member of the FADICA organization.
“As in the case of our phenomenal Catholic benefactors like the Connelly Foundation, there are many ways other than grant support that foundations and donors can help your grantees”, Sr. Scullion told the members of FADICA.
Sr. Scullion said that foundations and donors like the Connelly Foundation were able to open doors and enlist the aid of friends and civic leaders who have proved critical to Project H.O.M.E.’s success.
“The way we grew to do more systemic things is because many of our donors challenged us to go further, to go deeper, to develop our capacity, and to get more skills so that we could change lives,” Sr. Scullion advised FADICA.
Among others chosen for the Time Magazine award are President Barack Obama, and Luis Moreno-Ocampo, of the International Criminal Court for his work in prosecuting Sudanese President Omar Hassan al Bashir for war crimes.
