Ken Bennett
Founder and Executive Director
ken@streetsministries.org
901-525-7380 x204

Ken is a lifelong Memphian and graduated from Messick High School in 1975. He received his Bachelors of Education in 1979 and a Masters degree in Counseling in 1985, both from the University of Memphis. Ken and his wife, Debbie, have been married over twenty years and are the proud parents of Kristin, Matthew and Emily.

In 1979, Ken became Athletic Director at Presbyterian Day School. He then served as a therapist on the Alcohol and Drug Unit at Mid South Hospital from 1982 through 1983. In 1984, Ken served on the therapy staff at the Eastwood Hospital Mental Health Unit. Although Ken had been a volunteer youth leader for most of his adult life, he joined the staff of Urban Young Life in 1985. The following year he started an outreach out of St. Patrick's Church in downtown Memphis, just around the corner from Streets' present facility. This area of town captured Ken's heart and in the fall of 1987, under the direction of the Memphis Leadership Foundation (MLF), he answered God's call and Streets Ministries was born.

Ken bought a used van, grabbed a basketball and began to hang out in the Cleaborn and Foote Homes community of inner-city Memphis. Though regarded by some as highly suspect at first, Ken began to build relationships with young people and their families in the community. Ken operated out of a van for the first two years, holding a High School outreach "club" each week at the MLK Center. In the fall of 1988, Ken and Debbie joined Mt. Olive CME Church on Vance Avenue, and Streets utilized Mt. Olive for office and program space each week until 1991.

Streets acquired an old turntable factory at 769 Vance Avenue in 1991, providing approximately 3,000 square feet for club and the Pathways tutoring program, which had started in 1989. In 1993, Streets acquired the body shop adjacent to Streets at 771 Vance Avenue. This and a subsequent expansion to the physical plant grew Streets to a 9,000 square foot facility. In spring of 2005, Streets broke ground on a 34,500 square foot facility less than a mile down Vance, and the following May, Ken and the Streets staff moved into 430 Vance, directly across from Foote Homes. (The original Streets building at 769 and 771 Vance was sold to partner ministry Advance Memphis.)

Over the years, Ken has been written about in the New York Times, Tabletalk Magazine, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, virtually every major Memphis publication and periodical, and has been featured in multiple nonfiction books, including the German Is America Working? He has been named the 2003 Thomas W. Briggs Community Servant of the Year, the 2002 East Memphis Rotary Citizen of the Year and joined such notables as Maya Angelou and Alice Walker in becoming the 1993 Lyndhurst Prize Winner.

Ken is a member of the Urban Youth Initiative management team and is a board member of New Hope Christian Academy and the Stax Music Academy charter school. In 1997, Ken was appointed by Governor Don Sundquist as an advisor to the Southern Governor's Association on its Urban Revitalization Initiative. With over 20 years serving South Memphis under his belt, Ken continues to spend his time in fellowship with the community, leading and serving as a model of Christ.