National Federation of Croatian Americans Cultural Foundation celebrates 30th anniversary in nation’s capital

NFCACF Delegates on Saturday, June 3rd in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Supplied)

National Federation of Croatian Americans Cultural Foundation celebrates 30th anniversary in nation’s capital

The National Federation of Croatian Americans Cultural Foundation (NFCA until 2012) has now reached the 30th year milestone. In September 1993, this national umbrella organization was first formalized in Chicago.  

The charter was ratified by twenty Croatian American groups and empowered the group to speak on behalf of interests of the Croatian American community and the NFCACF continues to be a strong advocate for the community, especially in the American political and diplomatic world. 

The recent decade has seen the organization embrace many novel cultural and educational projects of great interest to the community that uniquely needed a non-profit organization and national network to implement.

On Saturday, June 3rd, the NFCACF Assembly of Delegates met at the Georgetown Marriott in Washington, D.C. to discuss a wide variety of priority projects and organizational matters with twenty-eight delegates representing a dozen Croatian American organizations. Initiatives, like the Congressional Croatian Caucus, the NFCACF-Croatian Fraternal Union (CFU) Croatian American Sports Hall of Fame (CAS-HOF), the new Youth Committee, the Art Donation Committee, the History Speaker Series, and the community’s support for Ukraine were a few of the major topics discussed on Saturday morning. 

Elections were held at the private delegate’s meeting, and the following Executive Committee officers were elected: Steve Rukavina-President, Biljana Lovrinovic-Abel, Executive Vice President and three Vice Presidents: John Kraljic, Mario Spalatin, Ron Zivic. National Treasurer Adam Radman was re-elected as the National Treasurer, and also, were Anna Maria Sicenica-Secretary and Mark Plavetic-Assistant Secretary, and with Officers-At-Large Bernadette Luketich-Sikaras and Carolyn Bruno. There were seventeen Board Members elected too on Saturday.

Speakers at the NFCACF Public Session, Saturday June 3rd (Photo: Supplied)

During the morning session, Dr. Joseph Cindrich was announced as the inaugural recipient of the “NFCACF Legacy Award.” Steve Rukavina, the president of NFCACF, expressed the intention of his group to annually recognize and pay tribute to Croatian American activists who played a crucial role in the early days of establishing our national umbrella organization. 

Unfortunately, Dr. Joseph Cindrich was unable to attend the event in person, but upon receiving the news at his home in Menlo Park, CA, he expressed his gratitude, stating, “As a dedicated Croatian, I was very proud in being co-founder the establishment of National Federation of Croatian Americans in the 1990s and later served as its President.”

 In recognition of his extensive efforts. Dr. Cindrich was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018, presented by the President of Croatia, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic and the NFCACF leadership in New York City, for his assistance to the Republic of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and for all his Croatian activism, including his many years on the Board of Directors of the Croatian Scholarship Fund (CA). 

Dr. Joseph Cindrich at the first NFCA Convention (Photo: Supplied)

Joe Brajevich (San Pedro CA) was honored with the prestigious NFCACF Anne Pavlich “Volunteer of the Year” award for his leadership with the NFCACF Special Olympics Committee. His incredible contributions set a record-setting amount of funds raised for Croatia’s Special Olympics organization and to fully sponsor Croatia’s twenty-member delegation, participating in Berlin, Germany with the Summer World Games with 7,500 athletes from 140 countries and which starts on Saturday, June 17th.

The afternoon public session included an outstanding lineup of speakers: Croatian Ambassador Pjer Simunovic-US-Croatia Alliance; Professor Edward P. Joseph (Johns Hopkins-SAIS) presented about Southeast Europe regional issues; Sherry Ricchiardi-War Journalism/Croatia 1991; Richard Lolich-Croatian American Sports HOF and the first induction ceremony in Cleveland-October 2022; Joe Foley-Washington Report-Congressional Croatian Caucus; Steve Rukavina-NFCACF President with his walk down memory lane “40 Highlights Over 30 Years.”

The NFCACF held a Saturday night reception at the Croatian Embassy to celebrate this milestone anniversary. The sixty guests all enjoyed Croatian food catered by The Cosmopolitan Grill and Croatian wines, including Malvazija and Plavac Mali, provided by Croatian Premium Wines; the evening reception included guests speakers: Michael Sawkiw, with the Ukrainian Congress of America and Pulitzer Prize winner journalist, Roy Gutman (author, A Witness to Genocide). 

Maya Brlecic

Maya Brlecic, an internationally accomplished pianist, from Zagreb, performed at the Embassy reception to fill the air with the sound of celebratory music as the Croatian wine smiles flourished through the night.