Staff

John Brothers, Executive Director 

Under his leadership since 2004, QARI has developed a variety of services to individuals and organizations in  Quincy including Adult English Classes, leadership, mentoring and service programs for high school students,  cultural competency training for public and private organizations seeking to serve the South Shore's newcomer  population, civic participation activities, and multi-lingual Information and Referral Services for immigrants. 

Melissa Lee-Mei, Bilingual Outreach Specialist  

Melissa speaks English, Mandarin, and Cantonese, and since 2007, has worked with QARI to use her strong experience in Information and Referral services to help the Asian community. Melissa is skilled in document translation; assisting clients with the immigration and citizenship processes; applications for public housing/health insurance/food stamp benefits; and is networked to provide referral services for a wide variety of issues.  Additionally, Melissa is SHINE (Serving the Health Insurance Needs of Elders) trained, and frequently coordinates and participates in groups and events which focus on assisting elder clients.  

Michele Edelsberg, Adult English Education Director 

After a career in second language acquisition in public schools, Michele came to QARI seven years ago: first as a volunteer, then as a teacher, next as education specialist before becoming the Adult Education Program Director. She supervises six teachers in eight classes and the curriculum for approximately 120 students each semester. She also coordinates the ESOL volunteers who provide extra English practice and Citizenship classes for our students. Michele has a BA in Romance Languages, an MA in French, an M.Ed.in Bilingual Education and an ABD in Language and Literacy. 

Peter Tam, Youth Program Director 

A Quincy native, Peter started with QARI as a part-time AmeriCorps in 2007 while studying at Quincy College. As the Youth Program Director, he oversees the QARI Youth ServiceCorps, mentoring and tutoring programs. Additionally, Peter supervises and coordinates all volunteers, including AmeriCorps. He is fluent in Cantonese and English.

AmeriCorps*VISTA & Highland Street Corps Volunteers 

One of QARI’s longest supporting partners is the Corporation for National and Community Service.  Since 2004, QARI has had the opportunity to work with full-time AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteers. AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteers coordinate agency programs and assist the agency in connecting to the Chinese and Vietnamese speaking community. QARI has recently partnered with the Highland Street Corps to hire an Ambassador of Mentoring.

Xiaotong Duan, AmeriCorps*VISTA Volunteer 

Armed with a degree Bachelors in Art & Art History from the University of Connecticut, Xiaotong is the lead coordinator for QARI’s high school community service program, the QARI ServiceCorps.  She also provides support for fundraising, marketing, and planning for QARI’s events, such as the Lunar New Year Festival. Xiaotong is fluent in Mandarin and English.   

Mofei Xu, Highland Street Corps Ambassador of Mentoring 

Xu is the Youth Programs Coordinator in charge of U&I Mentoring, a site based mentoring program for immigrant students at Atlantic Middle School, as well as QARI Connects, a community based mentoring program for immigrant high school students in Quincy and the South Shore area. She is also coordinating high school tutoring programs for Quincy High School and North Quincy High School. Mofei received a B.A. in psychology from Boston University.

Resource Center Staff

QARI is proud to participate in the work study programs of UMass Boston, Suffolk University, UMass Amherst and the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy. Multi-lingual work-study students are available between 9:00AM and 5:30PM daily to assist clients. Students are trained and assisted by the Bilingual Outreach Specialist to serve clients.  We are actively seeking work-study students year-round to better serve our community.  Please consider us if you have Asian language skills and are seeking work-study employment!