The Edna Martin Christian Center was established as the East Side Christian Center in 1941. A community activist, Ms. Edna Martin, began working with children after school in the Martindale-Brightwood neighborhood. In 1946 the Center became a home mission of the American Baptist Churches, USA. As a result of this affiliation, the services and programs of the center expanded to include social services to strengthen families in the neighborhood. Thus, the board of directors adopted the following mission statement to describe the operations of the Center: The mission of the Edna Martin Christian Center is to bridge cultural, racial, and economic differences in order to support and nurture the people in the community by providing holistic programs that empower, encourage, and engender a vision of hope.