Vincent Marzullo appointed Interim Executive Director by DaVinci Center board

As a result of last month’s passing of John DeLuca, founder, and longtime Executive Director of the DaVinci Center, the Board of Directors has appointed Vincent Marzullo to serve as Interim Executive Director. 

Board Chair, Michael DeAngelis, stated that “the Board has enthusiastically approved the appointment of Vincent Marzullo as the Interim Executive Director.  As a former federal civil rights & social justice director (31 years) for the Corporation for National & Community Service (RI), Mr. Marzullo has aided hundreds of nonprofit organizations while promoting national service and older adult volunteers as valuable community building tools.  Our Board feels extremely fortunate to have such an experienced individual join us to assess agency/community needs, help identify and interview candidates to serve as the permanent Executive Director and hire a new Social Worker.”

Vin Marzullo stated “I’m truly honored to help pass the torch that the guardian angel of the North End, John DeLuca, left for us to carry and protect. The DaVinci Center gives its clients and neighbors a sense of security knowing it is objectively focused on the betterment of the community and those who reside in the immediate neighborhoods. What’s special for me was John’s use of 3 VISTA volunteers to organize residents during the 1972 startup of the Center in a Charles Street storefront. There is a 50-year legacy that will be celebrated in the Fall as well as the Board’s reaffirmation of the DaVinci Center mission.”

It’s the mission of the DaVinci Center to improve the quality of life of the residents of the North End of Providence by providing, or helping to bring about, a broad array of quality services and neighborhood improvement projects that respond to the needs of this community (Census Tracts 27, 28, 29). The Center is committed to bolstering the self-concept of clients, encouraging individual responsibility, fostering the value of the family as the hub of community life, and building respect for the vitality and fabric of the neighborhood.

The DaVinci Center promises to consistently listen and respond to the community it serves and to work collaboratively with others to bring about needed services and neighborhood improvements. The Center seeks constructive change by means of non-political community action and advocacy in a non-political environment.

About Vin Marzullo
Vincent Marzullo has served in a variety of public service positions – for the State of Rhode Island (3 Governors), Essex County, NJ – and for 31 years served as a federal civil rights & social justice director for the Corporation for National & Community Service (RI). He chaired the R.I. Federal Executive Council comprised of all federal directors and military officers to promote intergovernmental coordination. During the 70’s, Vin was the RI Employment & Training Director working with Electric Boat executives to train 5,000 new workers while also administering the state’s largest public service jobs program – almost 3500 full-time workers placed in state/local government and numerous non-profit agencies. While in Essex County, NJ during a 3-year period, he transformed their employment training agency in collaboration with Columbia University/Teachers College, Seton Hall University, and Essex County Community College. Vin also served a year as the Admissions Director for St. Joseph’s College in Brooklyn, NY – recruiting and accepting inner-city students from the Metro area public and Catholic high schools.

As the State Director of the federal volunteerism agency for Rhode Island, Vin had daily responsibility for AmeriCorps*VISTA; and overseeing more than 5,000 senior volunteers that participated in the Retired & Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), Foster Grandparents and Senior Companions. In 1993 when former President Clinton secured bipartisan support for the creation of his national service program (AmeriCorps), Vin assisted the late Governor Bruce Sundlun and former Citizens Bank CEO, Larry Fish, in initially organizing and expanding RI’s national service network. Vin provided training and technical assistance to numerous RI non-profits, colleges and public entities on community collaborations, organization capacity building, college access for urban youth, emergency preparedness/response, as well as non-violence and community policing support.

He served as a Federal Disaster Cadre Coordinator for the National Service Agency – providing FEMA/JFO (Joint Field Office) humanitarian relief support (hundreds of AmeriCorps members) during Presidential Disaster Declarations: Missouri floods/Jefferson City/St. Louis (2008); Hurricane Ike/Galveston/Austin, TX (2008); Nashville floods/TN (2010); RI Floods (2009 & 2011); AL tornados/Birmingham/Tuscaloosa (2011) – and has chaired the RI Citizen Corps Council (2007-2014) for the RI Emergency Management Agency (RI EMA). His federal duties required him to develop diverse, intimate, and respectful working relationships with the entire Congressional Delegation, their staff, municipal officials, RI Higher Education/Campus Compact, and numerous RI community-based agencies and their leaders.

As Chair of the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) for RI & Southern MA (13 years) he raised millions of dollars from federal/military/postal workers to assist hundreds of charities and social justice groups such as the RI Community Food Bank, health centers, Amos House, animal shelters, the American Red Cross, etc. For more than 5 years, Vin has been volunteering at Hasbro Children’s Hospital as a playroom assistant. He recently concluded a one-year term as the volunteer President of AARP RI, is a current member of the NAACP Providence Branch, a Board member of the Senior Agenda Coalition of RI, serves as an Associate Member of the RI Association of Emergency Managers (RIAEM) and has aided 25 mission assignments with the RI Medical Reserve Corps (MRC) during COVID. Since 2006 Vin has been serving on the non-profit Board of PGE Federal Credit Union – for military, federal & postal workers (2700 members and $50 million in assets).

A Brooklyn, NY native, Vin attended Archbishop Molloy HS in Queens, he graduated from Providence College (1970) and attended the Manpower Institute (1973)/John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is the recent Founder of USA Compassion Corps.