Joe Marinucci

My name is Joe Marinucci. I am the retired President and CEO of Downtown Cleveland Alliance and I currently serve as Board Chairman for Global Cleveland.

I came to America in 1956 with my parents as a two year old. My parents migrated from the Abruzzo Region of  Italy to the United States for a job opportunity for my father in a copper smelting plant in Cleveland. We were sponsored in Cleveland by my Dad's brother who lived in Cleveland's Little Italy neighborhood. My parents and I become US citizens in 1963.

When we came to Cleveland, we settled into the Little Italy community. The neighborhood had many transplanted Italians, many of who were from the same region of Italy as my family. Most everyone spoke Italian and brought many familiar customs from Italy with them. Although we did not initially speak English, we felt very much at home, and the institutional anchors of the community, Holy Rosary Church and the Alta House, provided many services which allowed us to adapt effectively to our new home.