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# 70 • OCTOBER 19 , 2015
won the World Series, he would donate $100,000 to the Foundation. When
the Diamondbacks beat the Yankees
in seven emotionally charged games
later in the month, Colangelo kept
his promise, and inspired countless
others to match his efforts.
By 2010, NIAF would once again be
challenged to come to the aide of our
Italian Motherland when the Embassy of Italy undertook to raise the $3
million necessary to preserve the AP
Italian Language Examination as part
of the yearly offering from the College Board. With a leadership gift of
$250,000 donated by NIAF’s Chairman Emeritus, Congressman Frank J.
Guarini, the Foundation was able to
raise a total of $750,000 and serve as
the community’s unparalleled leader
in the struggle to make sure that the
Italian language would always have a
place in the upper echelons of higher
learning. Today, thanks to the efforts of NIAF and the assembled Italian
American community, the AP Italian
Language Exam is healthy and secure
in its place among the College Board’s
offerings and the numbers of students
sitting for the test each year continues
to grow exponentially.
On the heels of this newest success,
in 2010 NIAF received a bequest from
the estate of Victoria J. Mastrobuono that was the largest philanthropic
gift in the Foundation’s history. These
funds, dedicated to NIAF’s outreach,
where instrumental in both the future
redevelopment of NIAF’s online presence and website, and the creation
of the Victoria J. Mastrobuono Library
and Learning Center at NIAF’s Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
In 2011, NIAF continued its service as
an advocate for the Italian culture by
funding the Lorenzo Da Ponte Italian
Library Project at UCLA, an initiative
created to translate the works 100 Italian authors who had made significant
literary, philosophical, juridical and historical contributions to the world of
international culture,” many of which
had never before been available in
the English language.
The year 2011 also saw a contingent
of NIAF’s Leadership invited to join the
Jerry Colangelo official celebrations of the 150th Anni-
36 | WE THE ITALIANS
www.wetheitalians.com