At the edge of Chinatown is a booming epicenter of culture and community. The Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center (BCNC) originated in 1969, from an initiative via greater Boston's Chinatown, South End and South Cove neighborhoods to establish the Josiah Quincy Elementary School and the Quincy School Community Council (QSCC). In partnership with the city of Boston, their goals were to build a center for an elementary school, a health center, the QSCC, a child care center, and to provide supplemental education and afterschool services. Elaine Ng, BCNC Executive Director, points out that this "urban renewal project" was to become a "one stop shop for civic engagement." In 1997, QSCC changed its name to BCNC to better represent its mission and services to the community. In 2005, BCNC moved to its permanent home at 38 Ash Street, and continues to run programs at the Josiah Quincy Elementary School at 885 Washington Street. Having just celebrated BCNC's 40th anniversary, Elaine Ng attests to the educational and economic growth the community has experienced with the development of its programs. The agency hosts afterschool and youth programs, Saturday art sessions, adult education for non-native English speakers and recreational spaces. Their oldest program is the Acorn Center for Early Education and Care, the first bilingual childcare program in Massachusetts, and currently the only nationally accredited Chinese-English bilingual childcare program in Boston. It's a place where 81 preschool children receive their daily lessons in both English and Chinese year-round. In light of this program, many non-English speaking children become English speakers when they reach Kindergarten age. Because of their success rate, BCNC's childcare center serves as a national model around the country.  Children's services such as the Red Oak After School Program focus on cultivating the arts, skill building, and to provide continuous education.

Their Oak Street Youth Center reaches 200 students of which 60% are immigrants. The academic division of the center takes 9th graders on college tours and utilizes a mentoring partnership with Dartmouth College. Adults in the community also benefit from BCNC’s programs. Adult Education for English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) offers basic and intermediate courses, citizenship exam preparation and peer tutoring. In addition, more than 450 people a year access the pool and gym. Family Services helps families tackle issues such as mental health and domestic violence through education, workshops, social services and counseling. Even women who offer Family Child Care services in their homes can get contract management, technical support, training and licensing to provide "high quality and safe child care."  Through the Arts and Enrichment program, at a very reasonable cost, people can learn ballroom dancing, yoga, jewelry making, Bangra dancing, photography, or can attend a series of adult and children's book readings for free.  Elaine Ng not only measures success by the number of children and adults that access their programs, graduates of the childcare center, or the adult education classes, but also by the numerous personal success stories.  Chi-Wan Chow, the 2009 recipient of Bank of America's Local Hero Award, discovered BCNC's Family Services after arriving in the U.S . in 1991. Without understanding a word of English, she utilized the ESOL courses and now advocates on behalf of her two youngest children who were born with hearing defects. Julio Ma Shum, who emigrated from Venezuela six years ago, attended the ESOL classes and participated in the youth programs. In Spring 2009, Julio was valedictorian of his high school and received a full scholarship to Brown University.