Homeless to Lawyer

Jeffrey Sitcov is President & Founder of Doors of Change (also known as Photocharity). For over 20 years, Jeffrey has been leading an amazing group of committed volunteers to help homeless youth ages 17-25 get off the streets in San Diego and 13 different states. Over this time, the group has helped over 15,000 homeless youth, helped place over 2,300 homeless youth in long-term safe housing, and developed an award-winning music and art program ("Taking Music & Art to the Streets") that has benefited more than 8,300 homeless youth. Elton John, Billy Joel, The Rolling Stones, Carlos Santana, B.B King, and many others have supported Doors of Change. Jeffrey has received awards locally and nationally, including the Channel 10 Leadership Award, Torrey Pines Bank Circle of Excellence Award, La Mesa Rotary "Peacemaker of the Year Award," and the Jewish Family Services Volunteer of the Year Award. He was also a semifinalist for the national Volvo For Life Award. Jeffrey speaks about why helping homeless youth has become such a passion and what it takes to end the cycle of homelessness successfully.

Sister Mary Scullion has been involved in service work and advocacy for homeless and mentally ill persons since 1978. In 1989, Sister Mary and Joan Dawson McConnon co-founded Project HOME (Housing, Opportunities for Employment, Medical Care, Education). This nationally recognized organization 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 900 units of housing, three social enterprises, the Honickman Learning Center Comcast Technology Lab, which is a catalyst for education and employment, and the Steven Klein Wellness Center.
Alfonso Geiger has been a resident of Project HOME for eight years. He is a Peer Support Specialist at Northeast Treatment (NET) Centers, where he supports individuals in their recovery journey. He is also an active member of Project HOME's Advocacy Committee and Speakers Bureau.
Sister Mary and Alfonso discuss the vital work of Project HOME, how we can support those experiencing homelessness, and what community members can do to be more educated on the issue. Alfonso also has a raw and honest conversation about how he ended up on the streets, the life lessons he learned along the way, and why it's important for him to pay it forward by sharing his success story. The issue of homelessness is personal to me because of my own family's experience living on the streets, so this discussion focuses on finding solutions to homelessness and providing grace, kindness, and support to those experiencing homelessness. Because as the motto of Project HOME states: "None of us are home until all of us are home.

In 2017, Peter Urscheler was elected the youngest mayor in the 169-year history of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, at the age of 34. Mayor "Pete," as he is affectionately known, is an innovative leader. While he is an unabashed cheerleader for his community, he also tackles some of today's most challenging issues like community/police relations and homelessness in an area that is becoming increasingly affluent. There is a fear that it will become unaffordable for some people who may have previously called Phoenixville, PA, home. Mayor Pete discusses how his diverse ethnicity and supportive parents made him the leader he is today, caring for his elderly father during his race for Mayor and how it impacted his time as Mayor and the lessons he learned. When there is a significant political divide, it's refreshing to speak with a politician who represents everyone in his community regardless of whether they agree with him or not. While it's easy to focus on all national issues, don't forget that "All Politics Is Local."

Yasmine Mustafa is a social entrepreneur and the CEO & Co-Founder of ROAR for Good, a mission-driven technology company dedicated to cultivating safer workplaces. The patented platform protects at-risk hotel and healthcare workers from harm by using wearable panic button technology to summon help with one touch of a button. Yasmine speaks compellingly about her journey from undocumented to tech guru, the challenges of being a successful woman leader in the technology spaces, and how being a woman of color has informed her mission of combating violence against women.

In this episode, we meet Katherine Gilmore Richardson who is serving her first term as Councilmember At-Large for the City of Philadelphia. Gilmore Richardson is the youngest woman ever elected citywide and the youngest African American woman ever elected to Philadelphia City Council. She is focused on addressing the city’s ongoing recovery from Covid-19, upskilling and reskilling our workforce, supporting local, small, and minority-owned businesses, and addressing climate change and environmental justice.

Councilmember Gilmore Richardson also created Philadelphia’s first Apprenticeship Guidebook. The Guidebook includes information about application requirements, training programs, career fields, and pay and benefits for over 20 apprenticeship programs in Philadelphia. The hope is that the Apprenticeship Guidebook will allow young people who are unable or uninterested in attending college to have the opportunity to learn an essential skill that will enable them to earn a liveable wage.

Gilmore Richardson previously served as a staff member for Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown for 11 years in roles ranging from Constituent Services to Chief of Staff. A lifelong Philadelphian, Gilmore Richardson is a graduate of the Philadelphia High School for Girls and West Chester University. She is a Riddge Avenue Church of God of Prophecy member and a proud life member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated. Gilmore Richardson resides in Wynnefield with her husband and three children.