On September 20th, 2017, history was made in San Francisco’s North Beach District when the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club (SFIAC) hosted the Northern California Italian American Symposium. The SFIAC, a treasured, 100-year-old institution, invited representatives from 39 Italian organizations to attend what proved to be a ground-breaking event. The meeting was held at the SFIAC building, 1630 Stockton Street, in the heart of the City’s Little Italy.
L’Italo-Americano was one of the invitees, which offered the opportunity to experience first-hand a one of a kind gathering of community organizations, including the Istituto di Cultura, the Associazione Nazionale Carabinieri, Il Cenacolo, the Italian Catholic Federation, Italian Community Services, the Italian Heritage Committee, the Knights of St. Francis, the Leonardo da Vinci Society, the Madonna Del Lume, the Museo ItaloAmericano and San Jose Little Italy. Also in attendance was San Francisco Italian Consul General, Lorenzo Ortona.
When L’Italo-Americano asked SFIAC President, Guido Perego, to describe the intent of the symposium, he replied, “We set out to bring all California Bay Area Italian organizations to the table to talk about how we can have better communication between all organizations. Part of the impetus was a result of the rapidly declining visibility of contributions by Italians. These contributions have been significant in many industries, public projects and social ways. It is growing more evident, however, that if we do not cooperate among the various organizations, we risk the future loss of our presence for generations to come.
“Our mission is to have better communication and collaboration. Our first goal, the creation of a website to be shared by organizations, was received extremely well and work has already begun by the Marketing & Communications Committee in accomplishing this. What makes this even more significant is that the committees consist of various Italian organizations working cooperatively toward a mutual goal.
“The main objective of the evening was to form the five committees, schedule their first meetings, and then report back at the next CIAO meeting, which will take place in January 2018.”
CIAO stands for Coalition of Italian American Organizations, and the committees formed were Language, Marketing & Communications, Social, Advocacy, and Culture.
SFIAC President Perego said, “The symposium, or beginning of ‘CIAO,’ was a great success. We have dates on the calendar for two of the committees and are reaching out to see what the others are scheduling.
“The success of the evening is demonstrated by the amount of positive feedback and updates on how the committees are being structured moving forward. Lasting success is something that only the future will tell. The website will be the most telling as it will take financial assistance from all, and if we achieve this, we will move forward on all fronts.
“This is unprecedented in the cross over of having various organizations collaborate for the benefit of one another. It is actually happening and I am hoping that the momentum keeps going. We have a few ideas on stimulating this momentum so our outlook at this time is very promising.”
SFIAC Chief Operating Officer, Nick Figone, facilitated group interaction and discussion by inviting representatives from the different organizations to speak about a number of issues including strengthening of social media participation, better communication between organizations, building awareness among young people and new arrivals from Italy, and implementation of new recruitment strategies. Political concerns, such as the removal of the Christopher Columbus statute from San Jose City Hall, also emerged.
Gianrico Pierucci, former SFIAC President and current board member, inspired attendees by saying, “We are all here together to strengthen and unify the Italian community. We are going to unite and do good things for the Italian Community for years to come.
The SFIAC has a remarkable history of over 100 years but need to look to the future and plan for the next 100 years. The City is changing and if we as Italians and Italian organizations don’t adapt, we will not be here for the next 100 years. We need to embrace change.”
It is fitting that the SFIAC initiated, hosted, and facilitated the September 20th symposium, as the Club has been a significant San Francisco landmark organization for decades.
Italians have made the San Francisco Bay Area home for well over 150 years. Early arrivals found solace and camaraderie among their fellow paesani forming clubs and fraternal organizations. Among them were the Circolo Recreativo Italiano Virtus in 1917, followed in 1919 by the Sportiva and the Sporting Club Italia, which eventually merged under the name of Italia Virtus Club, later called the Unione Sportiva Italiana Virtus. Their main aim was to erect a modern clubhouse for members on the site of the current SFIAC building. On June 1, 1936, under the new name of Italian Athletic Club, they moved into their new building at 1630 Stockton Street, which they still occupy today. In 1978, members decided to re-insert the word Italian to the name and thus became the San Francisco Italian Athletic Club.
The SFIAC celebrates their 100th anniversary beginning later this year and continuing through 2018. L’Italo-Americano will feature a SFIAC 100 year anniversary tribute article in an upcoming issue.
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