Congregations open up their buildings to serve children, the hungry, the homeless and others in need. Sacred places stabilize neighborhoods, strengthen commercial districts and significantly add to the economic health of our communities. All of this is endangered, however, when congregations can no longer afford to maintain these aging buildings. Partners has developed a family of highly-acclaimed resources to help congregations connect better to their communities, raise capital funds in new ways and preserve their historic building for future generations. We are the nation's only non-sectarian, nonprofit organization dedicated the sound stewardship and active community use of America's older religious properties.
Spotlight on Our Program Manager

Alison Hernandez, Program Manager of PSP’s Texas Office, has a passion for historical preservation. She pursued it to the completion of her Master’s Degree from the University of Georgia: “A Study of German-Texan Cultural Identity through Sacred Architecture.”

“My Grandmother’s family was part of the 1830s wave of German immigration to Texas,” says Alison. “I was drawn to researching the rural churches of these immigrants once I learned I had ties to them.  I argued in my thesis that these sacred sites stand in many cases as the last physical vestiges of this particular cultural identity. They are places of homecoming for those that identify as German-Texan.”

Alison originally started as an Intern with PSP, helping with the Texas Sacred Places Project, documenting historic sites. In 2013 she was hired as Program Manager, and now helps coordinate programs, R&D, and grant writing for the Texas Region.

A native of the Dallas-Fort Worth Area, Alison graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a B.S. in Architecture.  While at UTA, she collaborated with BC (Building Communities) Workshop Dallas on the Congo Street Green Initiative in the East Dallas neighborhood of Jubilee Park, a project that received the AIA/HUD Secretary’s Award for Excellence in Community-Informed Design.  While studying in Georgia, Alison contributed to the Stratford Hall Cultural Landscape Laboratory, a collaborative venture of the Robert E. Lee Memorial Association and the University of Georgia, College of Environmental Design, whose work is to develop and implement the future management and interpretation of Stratford Hall’s highly significant cultural landscape.

Alison is busy on many fronts. She is preparing grant proposals to bolster our Texas Sacred Places Project website as well as our Rural Program Development. She is researching the history of Divine Redeemer Presbyterian Church in San Antonio to help prepare them for a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark nomination in the fall. And she recently began coordinating an asset mapping workshop for Fain Presbyterian Church in Wichita Falls.


“I’m excited about PSP’s future,” she says, “We are on the cusp of expansion within the Texas Region, and I look forward to bringing Partners’ mission to new areas throughout the state as we foster new relationships.”