ABOUT
Our Mission
PTM empowers children and youth to discover and live their God-inspired dreams, develop a love for learning, and build joy-filled friendships that glorify Christ Jesus.
Our Core Purpose
PTM exists to journey together to uncover God-created spaces where students can grow and discover the gifts God has placed inside of them.
Our Core Values
Christ-centeredness, Character, Collaboration, Consciousness, Compassion and Creativity.
PTM'S IMPACT
PTM exists to be a place for students to receive support socially, emotionally, academically and spiritually. PTM ended the 2024-25 program year with 159 students enrolled, and 53% of these students were deeply connected through programs ranging from mentorship, enrichment opportunities, summer camps and more. Read more about PTM's impact through the 2024-2025 Impact Report.
History
1985
In 1985 Perry McGowan, having just graduated from Pearl-Cohn high school and a resident of the Preston Taylor Housing Development, saw children in his own neighborhood without a safe place to grow and learn. Perry began tutoring 8 children in his mom’s living room. After 8 turned into 16, Perry was able to arrange for space in a mobile trailer maintained by the Preston Taylor Management Office. This program offered tutoring, drug prevention training, Boy Scouts, field trips, fashion shows, and sports opportunities and relied on several Preston Taylor parents as volunteers.
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In 1985 Perry McGowan, having just graduated from Pearl-Cohn high school and a resident of the Preston Taylor Housing Development, saw children in his own neighborhood without a safe place to grow and learn. Perry began tutoring 8 children in his mom’s living room. After 8 turned into 16, Perry was able to arrange for space in a mobile trailer maintained by the Preston Taylor Management Office. This program offered tutoring, drug prevention training, Boy Scouts, field trips, fashion shows, and sports opportunities and relied on several Preston Taylor parents as volunteers.
1990s
1990s
In the mid-1990s, Perry was hired by Metro Parks to run programming out of the Preston Taylor Community Center. In 1997, Patrick Hamilton began volunteering in the Preston Taylor Community. Perry introduced him to students, parents, and community leaders and Patrick connected with a group of church leaders (Warner Durnell, Linda Knott), community leaders (McGowan and Tim Bryant) and parents (Mark McShand and Paula Thomas) in the Preston Taylor community to build on the work that Perry had started. In March, 1998 PTM was formally incorporated as a Christian-based non-profit named Preston Taylor Ministries. PTM met for a summer program in the fellowship hall of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church to offer children living in the community Bible studies, recreation, tutoring, and music instruction. In 1999, PTM moved to First Baptist Church of West Nashville (Pastored by Jordan Ivey). In addition to summer and afterschool programming, PTM added mentoring as a way of helping students connect to even more caring adults.
2000s
In 2007, PTM moved its operations from First Baptist–West Nashville into a building donated to PTM by Martha and Hal Wilson. Named to honor this generous family, the Hal and Martha Wilson Center is located at 4014 Indiana Avenue. This permanent space provided a base for expanding to serve more children through the launching of satellite sites.
In 2008, PTM established a second afterschool site in North Nashville in partnership with Faith United Missionary Baptist Church.
In 2010, PTM began serving high school students through Servant and Leadership Training (SaLT) Program. High school students met for tutoring and life skills training including career exploration, service learning, job training, and college exploration. High school programming began including Dinner and Devo in 2014.
PTM added afterschool sites between 2010-2020 including a partnership with St. Luke’s Community House in 2016 and McGruder Center in 2019.
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Today
PTM serves approximately 190 children and youth in kindergarten-8th grade at five afterschool sites. PTM believes that to be successful in life they need to be connected to a caring adult, a positive peer group, a purpose, and educational opportunity. Perry McGowan and Patrick Hamilton both continue to be involved as volunteers and financial contributors.
THE TEAM
Executive Staff
DWIGHT JOHNSON
Executive Director
ALYSSA MULLER
Volunteer Services & Community Engagement Manager
AMBER JACKSON
Director of Operations
ANIYA MILFORD
North Area Prorgam Director
ANTOINETTE (TONI) COBBINS
Central Area & Special Events Program Director
DANIEL MAYER
West Area & Middle School Program Director
ELLEN PETERSON
Director of Advancement
LISA LENTZ
Executive Program Director
MARC HUDSON
Property and Transportation Director
Program Leadership
Jenny Smith
Literacy Specialist
Latausha Stevenson
Social Work Director
Angela Bowers
Site Director: McGruder
Staff
Lori Williford
HR Consultant
Katherine Carpenter
Grant Writing Consultant
Literacy Team
Our Literacy Team is made up of passionate individuals who desire to see students reach their full potential inside and outside of the classroom.
Transportation Team
PTM programming starts on the bus, and this group of caring staff members ensures that each student makes it to and from programming safely.
Board of Directors
John Bearden, Board Chair
Jonathan Conley, Treasurer
Kendall Henderson, Secretary
Aja Batey
Greenlee Flannagin
Dr. Kimberly Glenn-Jemmott
Buck Patton
Warren Norman
Financial Accountability
PTM relies on a generous base of support and is committed to stewarding every donation with integrity and accountability to the glory of God. PTM’s revenue sources include:
40%
Individuals
33%
Grants &
Corporate Giving
7%
Churches
11%
Fundraising Events
8%
In-kind Gifts
1%
Other
(merchandise, interest, etc)
PTM is a 501c3 nonprofit organization and all donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent the law allows.
If interested in reviewing PTM’s IRS 990 tax returns, PTM’s external audit conducted by Blankenship CPA Group, or PTM Budgets for the last 10 years, they are published on PTM’s Giving Matters profile.
