UNICO National is a

service organization A service club or service organization is a voluntary nonprofit organization where members meet regularly to perform charitable works either by direct hands-on efforts or by raising money for other organizations. A service club is defined firstl ...

Italian American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, ...

s established in

Waterbury, Connecticut Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut on the Naugatuck River, southwest of Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury is the second-largest city in New Haven County, Connecticut. According to the 2020 US Census, in 20 ...

in 1922 to "engage in charitable works, support higher education, and perform patriotic deeds". According to its website, it is the "largest Italian American service organization in the USA". At that time of its founding, the trial of anarchists

Sacco and Vanzetti Nicola Sacco (; April 22, 1891 – August 23, 1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (; June 11, 1888 – August 23, 1927) were Italian immigrant anarchists who were controversially accused of murdering Alessandro Berardelli and Frederick Parmenter, a ...

was in the news, and many stories fostered a belief that Italian Americans were loyal primarily to their

homeland A homeland is a place where a cultural, national, or racial identity has formed. The definition can also mean simply one's country of birth. When used as a proper noun, the Homeland, as well as its equivalents in other languages, often has ethni ...

. UNICO was founded to show that Italian Americans were loyal to America first and held no allegiance to Italy except through cultural traditions. ''Unico'' is the Italian word for "unique", chosen to represent the one-of-a-kind nature of the organization. The word has since become a

backronym A backronym is an acronym formed from an already existing word by expanding its letters into the words of a phrase. Backronyms may be invented with either serious or humorous intent, or they may be a type of false etymology or folk etymology. The ...

which stands for Unity, Neighborliness, Integrity, Charity, Opportunity.

Membership and activities

Membership is open to American citizens of Italian heritage or persons married to American citizens of Italian heritage. The local chapters perform community service activities and fund local scholarships as well as other charitable, educational, cultural and civic programs.

National charities and initiatives

In addition to local chapter initiatives, UNICO supports charitable, educational, cultural and civic programs on a national level through the UNICO Foundation. The UNICO Foundation awards scholarships, funds cancer research, supports mental health initiatives, has established Italian Studies chairs at a number of universities, contributes to Cooley's Anemia research, and supports a number of cultural and heritage efforts on a national basis.

Organization

At an annual convention held each year during July or August in different cities across the country, the membership elects an

executive board A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

of officers to conduct the activities of the national organization. There is a national president, executive vice president, 1st and 2nd vice president, as well as a number of other national officers. The current national president, bringing UNICO into its 100th year, is Dr. Peter Pettinato, from the Carbondale. PA. Chapter. The organization's national headquarters is in

Fairfield Township, Essex County, New Jersey Fairfield is a township in far northwestern Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 7,466, reflecting an increase of 403 (+5.7%) from the 7,063 counted in the 2000 Census, w ...

Campaign against stereotyping

Former UNICO president Andre DiMino has taken a strong stand against negative stereotyping of Italian Americans in the media and entertainment industries. As of April 2010, he had made over 40 major media appearances in Unico's campaign against the

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

reality show ''

Jersey Shore The Jersey Shore (known by locals simply as the Shore) is the coastal region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. Geographically, the term encompasses about of oceanfront bordering the Atlantic Ocean, from Perth Amboy in the north to Cape May Po ...

'' and other negative portrayals of Italian Americans. In January 2010, DiMino brought the Unico campaign against Jersey Shore to

Seaside Heights Seaside Heights is a borough in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the borough's population was 2,887,Viacom Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to: * Viacom (1952–2006), a former American media conglomerate * Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom * Viacom18, a joint venture between Par ...

said that ''Jersey Shores second season would have fewer references to Italians, fewer shots of the Italian flag, and fewer uses of offensive terms such as

guido Guido is a given name Latinised from the Old High German name Wido. It originated in Medieval Italy. Guido later became a male first name in Austria, Germany, the Low Countries, Scandinavia, Spain, Portugal, Latin America and Switzerland. The mea ...

. A spokesperson for MTV said they had "made some adjustments", but added, "However, our role is to document the cast, and however they refer to themselves we don't interfere." After viewing MTV video promos for the second season of ''Jersey Shore'', DiMino stated that he was "... cautiously optimistic ..." about the reduced references to Italian Americans but warned that he would continue to be vigilant about any further negative stereotyping or denigration of Italian Americans. DiMino also targeted the video game ''

Mafia II ''Mafia II'' is a 2010 action-adventure game developed by 2K Czech and published by 2K Games. It was released in August 24 2010 for PlayStation 3, Windows, and Xbox 360. The game is a standalone sequel to 2002's ''Mafia (video game), Mafia'', an ...

'' for allegedly portraying Italians and Italian-Americans as gangsters, and accused

Take-Two Interactive Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City and founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993. The company owns two major publishing labels, Rockstar Games and 2K, which operate internal g ...

of "blatantly and unfairly discriminating and demeaning" the community. The company later responded in a statement that the game's subject matter was done in a responsible manner and with discretion. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick also claimed that no one in the organization has actually seen or played the game.

References

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External links