Unico National

Unico National is a service organization of Italian Americans established in Waterbury, Connecticut 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 was in the news, and many stories fostered a belief that Italian Americans were loyal primarily to their homeland. 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 which stands for Unity, Neighborliness, Integrity, Charity, Opportunity.

Membership is open to American citizens of Italian heritage or persons married to American citizens of Italian heritage. The organization now has over 5,900 members in 140 local chapters in 19 states. The local chapters perform community service activities and fund local scholarships as well as other charitable, educational, cultural and civic programs.

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.

At an annual convention held each year during July or August in different cities across the country, the membership elects an executive board of officers to conduct the activities of the national organization. There is a national president, executive vice president, 1st, 2nd and 3rd vice presidents, as well as a number of other national officers. The current national president is Ann Walko from the Westfield, NJ Chapter. The organization's national headquarters is in Fairfield Township, Essex County, New Jersey.

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