First Gen American Ep.8 Francellis and Miguel Andres Quinones

Francellis Quinones is the second of four girls to Dominican and Puerto Rican parents who immigrated to the United States as young adults. Due to the intricate and long process of immigration, her mother gave birth to two sisters in New York and 2 in the Dominican Republic. Her mother had to go back to New York in order to complete the legal immigration process, leaving Francellis and her sister without her parents for almost 2 years. Her family struggled to attain the American dream and achieved it by being able to own a home and send their daughters to college to obtain high degrees. Francellis learned from an early age to work hard and that she was destined for greatness. She obtained a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and a Master's degree in International Relations. As a mother of 2 beautiful daughters, wife, and a survivor of sexual violence, she has had a wonderful 15 year career as a history teacher in the Boston Public School system and currently work's as a Hiset teacher for an organization called UTEC, where she can implement all her learning to engineer thoughtful and engaging learning opportunities and inspire young people to change their lives.

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Miguel Andres Quinones was born and raised in Boston after his father was murdered in Puerto Rico. Utilizing Sports as a way to cope with the loss, Miguel played multiple sports leagues winning several different championships in baseball, football, and basketball. He started his youth work as early as the age of 15 by coaching younger teams. He brought many of the youth in his neighborhood together for sports. Miguel started to pursue the path of education at the age of 16 with Teach Boston as a summer job where he worked with students who were considered in danger of repeating a grade. When he graduated, he became an Americorps member at City Year Boston and after his year of service, he helped develop and launch a national program called Citizens Schools where he worked for 8 years as the Senior Campus Director. Miguel trained the National Network along with leading his own enrichment program in the communities of Dorchester and Brighton. Miguel is currently working at The Center for Hope and Healing, a rape crisis center in Lowell, as the Engaging Men and Boys Project Director. He attends to survivors of sexual violence, leads men and boys in circles, runs after school programming components, and tackles conversations of masculinity. He has spoken on various topics at places such as the Ministry Black Alliance and Harvard.

Francellis and her husband have started a new endeavor called Quinones Culture Consultants. They aim to build inclusive, supportive, and encouraging environments that help foster growth, productivity, and deeper connection in social justice or youth work. They offer trainings, healing circles, management, leadership skills, as well as curriculum and team building activities. They utilize and explore World and American history to address and tackle social justice issues. They are experienced in bringing these tools to businesses, schools, sports teams, nonprofit organizations and families.