HIGHLIGHTS OF THE NIAF BOARD OF DIRECTORS, STAFF, AND IALC RETREAT JANUARY 12-13, 2017
The 2017 NIAF Retreat was held on January 12-13, 2017 at NIAF Headquarters in Washington, DC. This was an opportunity for NIAF staff, Board members and members of the Italian American Leadership Council (IALC) to come together to discuss the current and future work of the Foundation. Peter Bell, AMHS Treasurer, attended the retreat on January 12; Peter and I attended the NIAF dinner on Thursday evening; and I attended the retreat on January 13. As a member of NIAF’s IALC, we thought it important to share key highlights of the discussions that were held during the retreat:
NIAF Headquarters Designation as an Italian American Museum: Work continues with the DC Government to bring NIAF headquarters and its exhibits into conformity so that the DC Government will certify the Headquarters building as a museum space (the NIAF Italian American Museum). NIAF President John Viola spoke about the establishment of the Victoria J. Mastrobuono Learning Center, which will be comprised of a Library, Resource Database and Memory Booth/Center.
Italian Garden Project Proposal: NIAF is exploring participation in a Garden Project, one that is currently in place in Pittsburgh, PA (at this location, a selection of heirloom plants and fig trees associated with Italian families will be maintained and cultivated). The proposal would be to use the front of the Headquarters building to display heirloom varieties of plants. If NIAF decides to participate, it will conduct a separate fundraising effort to support this initiative.
Wishwall Foundation: The Wishwall Foundation is a nonprofit charitable organization and social community that collaborates with other non-profit groups that promote social integration and the defense of human rights as well as with companies who wish to sponsor worthy initiatives. They have built Wishwalls in Venice and in cities in the U.S. The Foundation is built on the “pay it forward” philosophy. Its core principles are to give a voice to the voiceless and to help make meaningful wishes come true. The Foundation has approached NIAF to obtain its cooperation in building a Wishwall in the DC area; this is under consideration. Shroud of Turin Replica - As part of this discussion, John mentioned that NIAF was instrumental in getting a replica of the Shroud of Turin sent to DC’s Holy Rosary Church. This replica of the Shroud is one of only three in existence and the only one that was blessed by the Archbishop of Turin.
Viral Marketing – Community Engagement for a New Era: John Viola discussed a number of Viral Marketing initiatives and their importance for NIAF’s future success. These initiatives represent an efficient vehicle for reaching out to younger Italian Americans to get them involved with NIAF. i-Italy Partnership - NIAF and i-Italy have partnered to offer 2 internship opportunities for recent Italian American graduates interested in building the basis for a career in media while furthering their proficiency in the Italian language.
The interns will perform their duties on a part-time basis at the iItaly headquarters in New York City. i-Italy is the largest editorial network dedicated to Italian and Italian American affairs in the U.S. It comprises a web portal (www.i-Italy.org); a bi-monthly print magazine and a weekly TV show broadcasting every weekend on NYC Life (Channel 25) in the New York City metropolitan area. Little Italy Project – Two NIAF Board members have formed a partnership with Airbnb to support Little Italy’s around the country, the objective of which is to preserve and develop the traditional Little Italy’s in Italian communities. Italian Feast Project – NIAF is considering developing an extensive data base that lists all of the Italian Feasts that operate around the country.
This will facilitate the trading of best practices between these feasts. There are apparently hundreds of Italian Feasts around the country. OSIA and the Sons and Daughters of Italy both have data bases that contain existing information and we will cooperate with them in performing this work. Make Sunday Italian Again – John Viola came up with this logo/idea. In Italian families, Sunday was always a day for getting the entire family together to spend time and eat meals. The thought is to promote a return to this through NIAF; work is underway to trademark the slogan and the website, MakeSundayItalianAgain.org.
Participants Open Discussion
•Engaging High Schools around Italian Studies – develop a best practices tool kit and provide it to high schools that have Italian clubs, as a means to reach out to younger individuals and involve them in NIAF.
•NIAF Teacher Membership – Provide a membership opportunity to teachers for $50.
•Columbus Day – NIAF Board of Director Basil Russo spoke passionately about the need for NIAF to continue to support Columbus Day. He mentioned that many of the efforts to replace Columbus Day were intellectually dishonest.
Youth Initiatives at NIAF: NIAF is continually striving to involve young Italian Americans in NIAF – a good job was done in involving young people at last year’s Gala, to include students from college and university Italian clubs, and involving former Voyage of Discovery participants as volunteers. NIAF wants to share best practices for attracting younger members with other Italian American organizations. Voyage of Discovery –
We want to do follow-up research on Voyage of Discovery (VOD) participants. Many of these individuals have gone on to have very successful careers (one young woman recently was included on the Forbes 30 under 30 list of successful young professionals). NIAF has developed a Facebook page for VOD participants and this could be a source of information; they are also working to find past scholarship winners (to include winner of the AMHS/NIAF joint scholarships) to showcase the successes they have had in their lives. IALC Professional Network – NIAF Senior Director of Development Alex Benedetto mentioned that she is developing an online network for IALC members. Participation in it would require the approval of individual members. Fellowships Created by NIAF – NIAF has developed five fellowship programs: Congressional Fellowships; Museum Fellowships; NIAF on Campus; and i-Italy and NIAF Internships.
2017 Region of Honor:
Sicily is the 2017 Region of Honor. Sicily has committed to paying two hundred thousand Euros for this honor. The dates for NIAF’s travel to Sicily that will include Board and IALC members will be announced shortly. A separate IALC Summit will be held in NYC in May 4. NIAF’s 42nd Anniversary Gala will be held November 2-5 in Washington, DC. NIAF is working to grow the Expo by inviting appropriate vendors and will increase the number of vendors over last year. The vendors pay to participate and this represents additional Gala revenues.