Meet Nate Scott - Fall 2025 to Spring 2026 Youth Programs Assistant

Nate Scott was a Youth Programs Assistant from Fall 2025 to Spring 2026, where he helped design and facilitate workshops for the A-VOYCE Malden youth.  Nate is a rising junior at Tufts University studying political science and civic studies. We asked Nate to reflect on his experience interning with ACDC through Tufts’s Tisch Scholars Program. 

How did you learn about ACDC and what inspired you to join us? 

I learned about ACDC through Tisch Scholars, a Tisch College program at Tufts that pairs students with community-based placements. I was most interested in a role at ACDC, specifically with A-VOYCE, because it combined my interests of Asian advocacy and education with youth leadership and development. 

Describe the research and/or project(s) you worked on during your internship. 

One of the major projects I worked on this year was designing and leading my own workshop in March that centered on Carceral Justice & the Massachusetts Prison System. I built the curriculum and activities based on my research and involvement with TUPIT, the Tufts University Prison Initiative. Additionally, our 12 youth in the A-VOYCE Malden cohort recently completed their final project of identifying, researching, and presenting sites in their Malden community that could be the place of future ACDC placekeeping work. It was completely youth-led, and I’ve loved getting to see each of the youth step up to facilitate discussions and work effectively in their groups.  

What is a skill that you’ve gained or developed through this internship? 

One skill I’ve gained has been learning how to write a curriculum. By watching how Reina, the Youth Programs Associate, builds workshops and then creating my own with her help, I’ve become more confident in my skills of organizing and condensing information to teach it to others in a presentable and engaging way. 

What has it been like working with the Malden community? Can you describe a favorite memory with the Malden A-VOYCE cohort? 

It’s been such a joy to work with the Malden community. All the youth are driven, interesting, and have unique perspectives to share on to how to best serve their community. It’s so inspiring! One of my favorite memories was a pre-workshop bonding activity we did where we painted mini canvases and wood blocks. Everyone’s artwork was so beautiful, and we just walked around in awe of them all. I’m a terrible artist (especially when compared to them), but I felt very supported by them complimenting even my simple two-color wooden mushroom. 

What has it been like working with the Youth Programs team?  

Working with the YP team has been one of my favorite work experiences yet! The team is so kind and passionate, and I’ve felt welcomed since day one. I love coming into the office because it is always such a positive and exciting environment. Specifically, Reina has been a great mentor and role model for me, and I’m so grateful that I’ve been able to work so closely and learn from her this year. 

What advice would you share for future Youth Programs Interns?  

Get to know the youth well! I was lucky enough to read and edit a few of the seniors’ college essays, and I felt honored that they felt comfortable sharing them with me and wanted my thoughts—building strong relationships with the youth will make the work more fulfilling for you and ensure that they remember this as a wonderful experience.  

What is one takeaway you have from your internship at ACDC?  

Youth work matters. There is nothing more important than helping inspire and develop young leaders and being a positive influence on their lives. 

Meet Angela Lei - Spring 2026 Community Design & Planning Graduate Intern

Image by Enzo Nguyen

Angela Lei is a Boston native and an urban planner. She received her Master of City Planning from MIT. Her passion in urban planning is rooted in social equity and a mission of building healthy and vibrant neighborhoods for the city she loves. Her academic coursework focuses on space activation, human-scale mobility planning, and understanding neighborhood changes.

This past Spring, she worked on a series of Urban Planning workshops held in Quincy to engage residents with fundamentals of good urban planning, housing and the power of community advocacy. 

How did you learn about ACDC and what inspired you to join us?

I have always known about ACDC’s existence growing up. My parents and those around me had always looked at ACDC as a resource for wealth building and homeownership education. Once I entered the urban planning field, I learned about the community organizing work ACDC led in planning projects around Greater Boston. I thought “I want to be a part of the action!” 

Describe the research and/or project(s) you worked on during your internship.

Image by Rob Chin

As a Community Design and Planning Graduate Intern, I researched demographics and planning policies with the goal of expanding ACDC’s services into Quincy. From that research, I piloted a new Resident Leadership Academy program in Quincy. Residents engaged in a series of four classes on the fundamentals of urban planning, each tailored to Quincy's landscape. Together, we talked about zoning and land use, tying it to Quincy’s affordable housing policies. Then we split up into small groups to co-create a Master Plan together. In the end, the goal was to have participants gain planning knowledge to confidently shape the Quincy community and neighborhood. 

What is a skill that you’ve gained or developed through this internship?  

I learned that I am pretty good at public speaking. I also learned how to translate information into a way that could change minds and hearts. I experienced firsthand how important coalition building is to generating momentum and excitement. When meeting so many people in different coalitions, there is always something to learn. 

What has it been like working with the Quincy community? Can you describe a favorite memory with the Quincy community?

The residents in the Quincy cohort are extremely passionate and knowledgeable about their city. I found myself learning so much about Quincy from them! I loved casually chatting with residents after each workshop because I was able to learn more about them outside of a structured setting. 

What has it been like working with the CD&P team?

I love Jenny and Rob! Jenny has provided great leadership during my time on ACDC’s CD&P team. She has cheered me on and supported my wacky ideas. And Rob has been a great support system and mentor to me. 

What is one take away from your internship at ACDC?  

The people are what make an amazing experience. I have learned so much from each person I have interacted with at ACDC. 

What advice would you share for future CD&P Graduate Interns?

Come with an open mind and open heart. The work you do will be both transformational to you and the community you support. 

Image by Rob Chin

Meet Nina Tsao - Philanthropist and ACDC Supporter, Community Volunteer, and Angel Investor

Photo courtesy of Nina Tsao.

Nina Tsao founded Onsett International Corporation, an innovative integrated technology and business management consulting firm focusing on strategic operation and transforming enterprise information infrastructure for Fortune 500 corporations. She advised C-level executives of large financial services organizations and held the Chief GlobalNetwork Architect position for Citigroup Global IT (CGIN) organization for years.

She also believes in mentoring and investing in young companies. Over the last ten years, Nina has been an active angel investor in several startup companies on the East and West coasts.

Currently retired, Nina has become more involved in philanthropy and intergenerational mentoring programs. Nina generously supports ACDC’s Retirement Matched Savings program. ACDC recently interviewed Nina, and we are excited to share more about her passion for supporting financial literacy.

How did you get involved with ACDC?

Knowing that so many low-wage workers do not have access to employer-sponsored retirement accounts, I wanted to create opportunities for people to learn about retirement planning and start saving for their retirement before it’s too late. When I told my friends about a Roth IRA matching program idea, a close friend recommended that ACDC may have shared interest, so I reached out to Angie.

ACDC already has a matched savings program to help first-time homebuyers dig deeper into financial literacy essentials like creating a savings plan, how to spend within a reasonable budget, and building credit. It was a natural fit for me to help them expand on that to create a retirement-focused financial literacy program.

I recently attended one of the workshops and had a chance to meet with the program participants. The participants asked me great questions such as, “When do you know when you have enough to retire?” While each individual’s unique situation and varying economic factors call for different measures, I shared with them a formula that I learned from an AARP article. Generally, an ideal goal is to live off of 3 - 4% per year of your total savings.

Why is financial literacy among the causes you champion?

My father is an economist and successful business manager who taught me the importance of financial and investment acumen. Financial management and investment knowledge is the key to building wealth and preparing for financial independence for retirement. Savings and social security income alone is not enough. Long-term investment with educated risk management helps build a robust retirement nest egg.

For most people, these are very complex subjects that you must seek out and learn about independently, assuming you know where to find such resources. So, imagine navigating this while having limited English skills and not being familiar with the financial systems in the US. It’s great that ACDC can offer this type of education in Chinese to help bridge language barriers and cultural differences in how money is discussed and managed.

How did you get involved in philanthropy?

Helping others is a personal value instilled in me since childhood from several environments - from home, from the Maryknoll nuns at my school, and in Girl Scouts. I always believe that hard work, integrity, and equity are the keys to success. It feels incredibly rewarding to help provide opportunities for economic mobility for people who don’t otherwise have access or means to these resources. I am very fortunate to have benefitted from the knowledge my father passed along to me. I hope that the people in ACDC’s Retirement Matched Savings program can now pass the skills they acquire onto their children to break the cycle of poverty and build generational wealth.

Thank you to Nina for supporting ACDC’s Retirement Matched Savings program and for sharing your story! To learn more about this program, visit https://asiancdc.org/financial-health. 

Get to Know our Interns: Meet Cathy Ching

Next up in the “Get to know our interns'' series is an interview with Cathy Ching, a Communications Intern at ACDC. During her internship, Cathy worked on creating content for ACDC’s blog and social media channels. 

This fall, Cathy will be going into her second year at Northeastern University where she studies journalism.

How did you learn about ACDC and why did you want to intern there?

I’m a part of the Huntington News, which is Northeastern’s independent student newspaper. Every week the editors pitch ideas for the writers to pick up. One of the pitches was about the anti-racism town hall ACDC co-sponsored. I was interested in it, but I didn’t end up picking it up because it was during midterm week when I had a lot of homework. The next day, in my journalism class, my professor assigned us a podcast to make and we had to choose an issue that’s newsworthy. I remembered the pitch from yesterday about ACDC’s anti-racism town hall meeting, so I wanted to do that for my podcast. I reached out to ACDC and Christine, my current supervisor, replied. We did the interview for my podcast and I told her that I’d never done a podcast or video editing before. 

After I was done, I sent it to her to check it out. I guess she really liked it. She told me if I was interested in a communications internship for the summer, I should reach out to her and that’s how I got the internship. I wanted to intern there because I’m a journalism major with a communications minor, so it’s in my field of study. I also really admire what ACDC does and their mission. My mom also works with Asian immigrants in Brooklyn’s Chinatown, so I’ve grown up with the same mindset and values that ACDC has. I feel really comfortable at ACDC.

What is a skill that you’ve gained or developed through this internship?

Interestingly enough, through my communications internship I have learned a lot about communication. This is the first job I’ve done remotely, so it was all new to me to communicate through a computer screen and go to meetings in my bedroom. I had to rely on talking to Christine and the other interns through Slack and email. I also had to learn to keep Christine updated on what I was working on, ask for help if I needed it, and ask to work on new projects if I wanted them.

What was a project you enjoyed working on and why?

A project that I enjoyed working on was writing up the blog post for Gianna Stewart who’s a Boston-based public artist. I liked that project a lot because I love art. I grew up drawing and painting and I’ve always wanted to be a professional artist so it’s really cool to see someone living my dream. I’m an artist in my free time, so I liked learning about how her piece came together. 

It was also really fun researching about the history of Chinatown in Boston. Gianna is so well spoken, and everything she talked about in her interview about her piece was so interesting, like why she wanted to make the swing set installation bright yellow. I think getting to know people and what they do is just something I genuinely enjoy doing.

What challenges did you face in your internship?

A while ago, I emailed the interns to be featured, but I didn’t hear back yet because I think they were busy with their projects or too shy to be featured. I guess a challenge that I have faced is accepting rejection because in the journalism field you’re going to have to accept being rejected a lot. Not everyone wants to be interviewed and you have to be fine with that. You can’t take anything personally.

What has been your favorite part of the internship?

I think my favorite part of the internship has to be being behind the scenes of ACDC’s Instagram and Facebook. It’s interesting to see the organizations that reach out to them. It’s also fun creating graphics, coming up with Instagram captions, and learning about audience engagement.

What do you hope to achieve through the work you do?

For myself, I would like to become a better storyteller and a better writer through it all. I’ve been given the opportunity to write profiles about people, which is one of my favorite things to write.

What do you like to do in your free time?

I live in Brooklyn. In my free time, I like to go to Coney Island, which is a very unpopular opinion for people who live in Brooklyn. It’s not known to be the cleanest or safest beach. I’m also just a train ride away from Manhattan, so I go there after work and on the weekends. Some of my favorite spots are Central Park and Washington Square Park. If I’m not working on this internship remotely in my bedroom, I’m with my friends in Coney or in the city.

Thanks for sharing, Cathy!

Get to Know Our Interns: Meet Yating Chen

Yating Chen, Communications Intern

Every summer, ACDC hires high school and college student interns to join their team. Through hard work and perseverance, our interns have made it possible for ACDC to maintain its mission of empowering the Asian American community in the Greater Boston area during a disconnected time.

We wanted to introduce you to some of this summer’s interns to share their experience at ACDC. 

To start off our series is Yating Chen, a Communications Intern. Yating was born in China and moved to Boston when she was two years old. As a rising senior at Boston Latin School, Yating is involved in many extracurriculars including astronomy club, DECA, art club, and concert band. 

How did you connect with ACDC?

I first learned about ACDC last summer through the City of Boston’s SuccessLink program, and was placed at ACDC as a Development Intern last year. I really liked it, so I applied to intern with ACDC again this year.

What have you worked on in the past and what projects are you working on now?

When I started, I researched blogging best practices, how to reach out to people, how to come up with interview questions, how to interview people, and how to write a blog post. I just wrapped a project on a blog post about some of ACDC’s Summer Leadership Academy (SLA) youth. 

I spoke with two of the participants and asked questions about their interests and about their SLA projects. After interviewing them, I transcribed the text, created a blog post on ACDC’s website, and created a social media graphic using Canva.

Have you come across any challenges so far?

A lot of this year’s work is very new to me, such as interviewing people and creating a blog post. It’s not something that I’ve done before. There was a good amount of learning going into the work. 

I think one of the most challenging parts was coming up with interview questions. I had to research the SLA curriculum and what youth would be working on. I took into consideration who I was interviewing and what questions and responses readers would be interested in.

What is a skill you have learned during your internship?

Time management is a pretty huge one — getting everything done on time, working efficiently, and making sure that I prioritize certain tasks. I have a set schedule for everyday and I list out all my tasks. I also keep a calendar and make sure that I know exactly what I need to do and when it needs to be done, which has been helpful.

How has ACDC inspired you?

What first drew me to ACDC was its mission and work in the Asian community. I think my experience at ACDC inspired me to want to get involved with more non-profits in the Boston area and help others.

What do you like to do in your free time?

I really like to draw. I’ve tried many different mediums and always love trying new things. I also like to spend time with my family, especially getting outdoors.

What are your plans for college?

I don’t have specific colleges in mind yet, but I definitely want to stay in the Boston area. In terms of extra-curriculars, I definitely want to stay active and join different clubs. 

Thank you, Yating, for sharing your story!