At bottom this difference involved ethnic and racial culturalism versus a White v. Black/Majority v. Minorities vision of America and the relative importance and emphasis on place and community v. individual rights and the universal claim of social justice.

[1] Baroni and the NCUEA forged substantial pieces of social legislation in the 1970s, and helped to launch the careers of future national leaders.

Senator Barbara Mikulski, U.S. Representative Marcy Kaptur, and Arthur J. Naparstek, Dean of the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University, worked with Baroni to write the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act of 1975 and the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977.

He spearheaded today's CHD when he gathered a group of people in 1969 to form an institution to study the underlying causes of poverty.

"Geno was not a leader but an organizer," said Dr. John A Kromkowski, current president of the National Center for Urban Ethnic Affairs.

"His real arena was to bring different ethnic and racial voices to Washington to give testimony and challenge federal programs."

He helped push through the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act, which propped up revitalization processes in urban areas around the country.

"[2] Shortly before his death in 1984, Geno explored South Africa's apartheid townships and visited with Bishop Desmond Tutu.