BCNC Spotlight Stories, sponsored by State Street, are stories about people from the BCNC family and how BCNC has impacted their lives.

April’s Spotlight Story features: Norman Eng – “BCNC provided me with resiliency tools.”

Throughout his teenage years, Norman Eng was a regular at BCNC’s Youth Center. He lived nearby in Castle Square, and he often played volleyball and basketball at the Youth Center, which used to be housed in the Josiah Quincy School. Although Norman’s initial draw to BCNC was recreational, it proved to be a powerful support system as he grew older. Amidst instability at home, BCNC served as one of the constants in his life. By the time he was seventeen, his family had moved seven times throughout the Boston area, his father was battling a gambling addiction, and his mother was suffering from mental illness. Despite these challenges, Norman found the supportive network at BCNC helped him to strengthen and move forward. “My ability to be resilient was the result of having a nurturing community that provided me with unconditional support and guidance.”
 
He made close connections with other youth as well as the staff. “The current director, Elaine Ng, was like my guidance counselor,” said Norman. “I’ve known her forever and she was always there for us when we needed help with anything." Elaine worked for the Youth Center at the time, and some of Norman’s best memories at BCNC were simply chatting with her about everything from homework to his personal life.
 
The academic and emotional support that BCNC provided was a “gateway to opportunity,” he said. After graduating from Boston Latin Academy, he went on to earn a degree in Business Communications at Bentley University, and later his MBA from Suffolk University. Although it’s been over fifteen years since he started visiting BCNC, he still checks in with Elaine, and participates in many community events. Through his current position as a partnership specialist for the U.S. Census, he gave presentations to BCNC members and other groups in the Chinatown neighborhood. In addition he participates in the annual 9-Man North American Chinese Invitational Volleyball Tournament held in Boston's Chinatown. “I couldn’t imagine life without BCNC. Because it seems like everything I was a part of, outside of my home, was here. It was my community.”