{{Short description|US non-profit organization}} '''The Italian Language Foundation''' ('''ILF''') was established on July 3, 2008, to promote and support Italian language education in the United States and specifically to reinstate the Advanced Placement program (AP) of the College Board for AP Italian Language and Culture.
The foundation was founded by Margaret I. Cuomo, M.D., currently the ILF's president, and Louis A. Tallarini, its chairman. Cuomo, working with her mother, Matilda Raffa Cuomo, former First Lady of the State of New York, had successfully advocated for the College Board to develop and implement the AP program in Italian Language and Culture, which was launched in 2005, but discontinued after the 2008–2009 academic year due to budgetary reasons.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.italianlanguagefoundation.org/history.shtml|title=History of the AP Italian Program|publisher=Italian Language Foundation|accessdate=14 November 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Staff|title=College Board Says, 'Arrivederci, AP Italian' |url=https://www.usnews.com/blogs/on-education/2009/01/09/college-board-says-arrivederci-ap-italian-.html|accessdate=14 November 2010|newspaper=U.S. News & World Report|date=9 January 2009}}</ref>
The ILF has worked with major Italian-American non-profit groups and educators interested in Italian language and culture, such as the American Association of Teachers of Italian (AATI)<ref>{{cite web|title=American Association of Teachers of Italian|url=http://www.aati-online.org/|work=American Association of Teachers of Italian|accessdate=14 November 2010}}</ref> and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), as well as with the Republic of Italy, in order to raise awareness and funds in support of its mission.<ref>{{cite web|title=Affiliates|url=http://www.italianlanguagefoundation.org/links.html|publisher=Italian Language Foundation|accessdate=14 November 2010}}</ref> In addition to a pledge of $1,500,000 by the Republic of Italy, the Columbus Citizens Foundation,<ref>{{cite web|title=Columbus Citizens Foundation|url=http://www.columbuscitizensfd.org/|work=Columbus Citizens Foundation|accessdate=14 November 2010}}</ref> organizers of New York City's annual Columbus Day Parade, pledged over $500,000 in support of reinstatement of the AP Italian program.<ref>{{cite news |authorlink=Mary Pilon|last=Pilon|first=Mary|title=Group Battles to Save AP Italian Program |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704113504575264713624221740|accessdate=14 November 2010|newspaper=Wall Street Journal|date=25 May 2010}}</ref>
On November 10, 2010, the College Board announced that the AP Italian program would be reinstated beginning in the fall of 2011, with the first AP Italian exam scheduled for May 2012.<ref>{{cite news|last=Lewin|first=Tamar|title=Italian Studies Regains Spot on the List of AP Courses|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/11/education/11italian.html?_r=1|accessdate=14 November 2010|newspaper=New York Times|date=10 November 2010}}</ref>
==See also== *Advanced Placement Italian Language and Culture
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{Official website|http://www.italianlanguagefoundation.org/ }} {{DEFAULTSORT:Italian Language Foundation}} Category:Italian-language education Category:Italian language in the United States Category:501(c)(3) organizations