Porschia Pickett came to Knoxville from West Tennessee to attend college. That was 2008. She’s still here and now with a master’s degree she has been promoted to executive director of Wesley House Community Center.
She graduated from UT with a major in anthropology (2013) and claimed her master’s in social entrepreneurship with a concentration in Christian community development from Carson Newman University (2016).
Along the way, Pickett was site coordinator at Belle Morris Elementary for the Great Schools partnership. She joined Wesley House two years ago as chief program officer and when her boss, Kara Finger, went to work for the city, Pickett was selected by the board of directors as executive director.
Wesley House is located at 1719 Reynolds Street, off Western Avenue near the News Sentinel building. The nonprofit was started in 1907 by women affiliated with the United Methodist Church to support the women working at Brookside Mills, according to the website.
“These hard-working mothers were at the cotton mill to support their families, and therefore their children were lacking supervision” after school and during the summer. The Methodist women answered the call, serving the Lonsdale, Beaumont and Mechanicsville families for 118 years. Now youth in grades K-8 from eight Knox County schools attend after-school programs. We covered a story here in which AT&T donated laptop computers. There is also an 8-week summer camp, along with targeted youth development.
In the 1950s, Wesley House added a program for seniors. “The grannies meet every Friday,” Pickett said. “Actually, it’s the grannies and one guy – all 65-plus. It helps eliminate social isolation.” Bingo is big.
A third program was an emergent need out of the Covid pandemic. Wesley House opened a Monday-Friday food pantry and a Monday-Thursday donation store. These resources are open to anyone in need, Pickett said, but food is delivered to shut-ins only in the Lonsdale-Beaumont-Mechanicsville area.
Porschia Pickett is a dynamic leader with big ideas. “I’m excited,” she said. “We just became a state-licensed childcare facility.”
We asked: “Where are you going? Where will you be in five years?”
“Hadn’t thought about that,” she responded with a trademark grin. “I’m big on the phrase ‘bloom where you are planted.’”
What about on-street parking in residential areas?
Fountain City Town Hall’s general membership will meet Monday, February 10, 2025, at 7 p.m. at Wesley Hall, Fountain City United Methodist Church, 212 Hotel Ave. City of Knoxville staff will provide a program regarding on-street parking in residential areas. Attending the meeting will be Grant Rosenberg, chief operating officer, and Mark Elliott, parking manager, Knoxville Engineering. Everyone is welcome. The meeting will be canceled if Knox County Schools are closed for weather.
Notes & Quotes

Patience Melnik
Patience Melnik has been named the city’s new director of the Office of Sustainability. She was the city’s waste and resources manager for nearly five years. Since Sept. 2022, Melnik has been a professional grant consultant, counting among her clients Trees Knoxville, whom she helped receive a $1.7 million grant from the USDA, and the city’s own Urban Forestry Department, for whom she successfully applied for a $225,000 grant to battle invasive plant species that threaten the tree canopy and native species.

UT President Randy Boyd with state Sens. Becky Massey and Richard Briggs. Boyd was in Nashville to show off his new coat.

Covenant Health VP for marketing Jeremy Floyd (center) congratulates two associates: Jennifer Thompson (left) for 10 years of service and Rachel Dellinger Stallings for five years of service.