Bethel Neighborhood Center opened its doors on April 11, 1911, as a community center of The Women's Baptist Home Mission Society. They primarily served needy families living near or working in the meat-packing plants of the West Bottoms of Kansas City. Many of them were new immigrants from Eastern European countries. Bethel has been located in the urban core of Kansas City, Kansas in the heart of one of the ten poorest counties in the nation per capita. This area has a high concentration for immigrant resettlement in the Greater Kansas City metropolitan area.

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Our neighborhood has gone through many changes over the last 114 years, but our mission remains the same. Over the decades, several waves of immigrants from Africa, South and Central America, and Asia have come to Kansas City, Kansas and Bethel Center has been supporting them in their assimilation into American life and culture.

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Our mission is to empower individuals to achieve a renewed sense of hope, wellness, and self-sufficiency.