Fra Noi Embrace Your Inner Italian
The National Italian American Foundation has awarded Casa Italia a $2,500 grant to support Casa volunteer Olivia Greco’s initiative, Saving Italian American Stories. The grant request was written by fellow Casa volunteer Carla Simonini, co-founder of Passaggi d’Italia, LLC.
“The funds will help to develop the project’s digital presence and programming aimed at documenting, preserving and sharing Italian-American family histories and personal stories,” Simonini explains. “A portion of the grant will support our family history writing workshops, and help us expand outreach and encourage participation from a broader cross-section of the Italian-American community;”
Central to the initiative is the website savingitalianamericanstories.com, which was developed by Olivia as a resource for people who are interested in documenting their Italian-American histories. “The website gives community members a place to learn about the project, find resources and guidance for documenting their own family histories, and participate in the initiative,” Simonini notes.
The writing workshop will be led by Christina Marrocco, Ph.D., author, poet and associate professor of English at Elgin Community College. “The workshops provide guidance and a supportive environment for participants, including people who may not consider themselves writers,” Simonini says. “Participants can work with family memories, photographs, documents, oral histories and other materials as they develop their stories.”
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