Albanian American Civic League & Foundation

Description

The Albanian American Civic League is the only non-partisan, volunteer registered lobby in Washington, DC, representing the concerns of more than 750,000 Albanian Americans about the plight of seven million Albanians living side by side in the Balkans—in Albania, Kosova, Macedonia, Montenegro, the Presheva Valley (southern Serbia), andChameria (northern Greece). The Civic League was founded by former Congressman Joe DioGuardi in 1989, shortly after he left the U.S. House of Representatives, and a small group of Albanian Americans in response to the crisis triggered in the Balkans by former Serbian dictator Slobodan Milosevic’s invasion and occupation of Kosova. DioGuardi serves as the Civic League’s volunteer president. Shirley Cloyes DioGuardi—a writer, foreign policy analyst, human rights activist, and former book publisher who joined the organization in 1994—serves as its Balkan Affairs Adviser. They report to a board of Albanian Americans. Several thousand members in the United States contribute to the operating expenses of the Civic League, and several Albanians in the United States and abroad contribute their knowledge and expertise to program development.