What an incredible honor it was to receive the Mario M. Cuomo Government Integrity Award this year from the Capital Region’s American Italian Heritage Association, Museum and Cultural Center. I’m so very proud to be a first generation Italian-American, part of more than 26 million Americans of Italian heritage, and have always deeply admired the courage of people like my parents.

I often share the story of how they came here as immigrants from the Province of Caserta in the Campania region of Italy. They came to call Schenectady their new home with a dream of building a better life for their family. I was the first to be born here. I grew up in the Mont Pleasant neighborhood with my parents and grandparents, my Nonna Concetta and my Nonno Luca, that’s how I got my name ‘Angelo Luca’.