NNEMAP’s history goes back to 1958. The construction of Interstate 670 disrupted the area’s “flytown” neighborhoods so drastically that home values plummeted. Within three months of the highway’s construction, a new population of disadvantaged persons needed emergency services. Fourth Avenue Christian Church opened a food pantry with several auxiliary services, and maintained it at their facility for 10 years. By 1968 about a dozen churches known as the Near Northside Cooperative Ministry were working with the Godman Guild Association to serve a population that had moved toward High Street. In April 1969, the pantry incorporated as Near Northside Emergency Material Assistance Program. The pantry operated for 17 years out of a house on Dennison Avenue, a former parsonage donated for the purpose by St. Mark’s Lutheran Church.