New Life Center - Humboldt Park

New Life Centers of Chicagoland, NFP was created in 2005 by New Life Community Church and continues to partner with them. New Life Community Church, itself grown out of a city "Children's Mission", was founded in 1986 as an 18-member church in Chicago's Back of the Yards neighborhood. Over 20 years later, New Life Community Church (Nueva Vida) exists as a bilingual, multi-site organization, serving 4,000 congregants weekly across 15 locations throughout Chicagoland. New Life Community Church seeks to serve 1% of Chicago’s population, expanding its reach by planting new locations and restarting declining Chicago-area churches.

Humboldt Park joined the New Life family with a history all its own. The Humboldt Park site, 1410 N. Springfield Ave., was founded in 1898 as Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church and School. Serving the community for over 100 years, Bethel made neighborhood gym outreach and children's programs a priority. In 2006, Bethel Lutheran School closed due to declining enrollment, and community programs began to grow in the school classrooms. Augmented by generous, hopeful funders, "Bethel Family Programs" expanded exponentially, joining the New Life family when Bethel's generous members gifted their facility to New Life Community Church in 2008. Bethel Family Programs' founding staff operate New Life-Humboldt Park's programs to this day.