Congressman Dwight Evans (D-PA-3rd) will welcome Sister Mary Scullion, co-founder of Project HOME, as his guest to this year’s State of the Union address on Tuesday.
Project HOME is an influential nonprofit that, on top of helping people experiencing homelessness, works to break the cycle of poverty that causes homelessness. The organization, which has attracted international acclaim, provides housing for those experiencing homelessness, youth and teen programs, LGBTQ-friendly housing, veteran assistance, and wellness and health-care services. Evans and his office have worked with Scullion and her organization on a variety of projects.
Rep. Evans said of Scullion:
“Sister Mary’s presence in Washington will help me to highlight the need for more affordable housing dollars and support of policies to reduce poverty and homelessness, as well as the need to prevent cuts to programs that help the vulnerable such as SNAP, also known as food stamps; and Social Security disability benefits. We have had bipartisan success recently in securing more housing funding and I want to build on that.”
Scullion explained Project HOME’s advocacy:
“Project HOME is committed to working with all lawmakers and civic leaders to address the devastating realities of poverty and homelessness. I’m grateful to Congressman Evans for the opportunity to accompany him to the State of the Union Address. We need a strong Federal commitment to continue to make progress on ending homelessness in Philadelphia and across our Nation.”
Evans has long been focused on working to reduce homelessness and protecting and increasing funding for affordable housing. He held a bipartisan roundtable last year on housing in Philadelphia with Scullion, U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) and other stakeholders at Project HOME. Last year, he also visited an area of Los Angeles with a high homeless population with the Congressional Black Caucus. Evans noted that the Trump administration may be shifting away from harsh rhetoric on homelessness to working more cooperatively with local leaders, and he wants to encourage the more cooperative approach.
“As Sister Mary and Project HOME say, ‘None of us are home until all of us are home,’” Evans said.
For more information on Project Home visit their website at www.projectHOME.org
Congressman Dwight Evans represents Northwest and West Philadelphia and parts of North, South and Center City Philadelphia. He serves on the House Ways and Means Committee and House Small Business Committee. To learn more about his work in Congress, please visit his Facebook, Twitter, and congressional website.