Founder

Joan S. Dawber S.C.
Executive Director

Sr. Joan S. Dawber, SC has been engaged full-time in working to abolish human trafficking for over a decade. Since LifeWay Network was founded in 2007, her focus as the Executive Director has been establishing safe housing for human trafficking survivors in the New York area and educating the general public on the important issues regarding modern day slavery.

Sr. Joan’s contributions to the abolitionist movement have been lauded by numerous organizations. In 2014, she was awarded the St. John’s University Caritas Medal and was named as one of New York’s New Abolitionists, a group of activists, celebrities, politicians, and survivors who are committed to ending human trafficking in the 21st century. In 2015, Pax Christi Metro New York presented Sr. Joan with the Sister Christine Mulready Peacemaker Award, which is given to an individual whose works for peace and justice are helping to transform metropolitan New York into a community of peacemakers and justice-seekers. She was also one of ten women profiled in Jo Piazza’s critically-acclaimed book, If Nuns Ruled the World: Ten Sisters on a Mission.

Sr. Joan graduated from St. John’s University with a BA in Human Services and an MA in Theology. She also holds a Masters in Pastoral Studies from Loyola University. A member of the Sisters of Charity Halifax for over thirty years, Sr. Joan is a former co-chair of the New York Coalition of Religious Congregations to Stop Trafficking in Persons, serves on the Sisters of Charity Global Concerns Resource Team, and is a board member of the US Catholic Sisters Against Human Trafficking.