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National Albanian Registry
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Press

For reporters and editors.

NAR is the first community-led count of Albanian Americans. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Founded 2026. This page is for journalists who need a verified source, a named contact, and citable numbers — not a press release that pretends to be one.

Live count

0

Registrants on the National Albanian Registry, updated in real time.

Direct line

Ervin Toro, Founder

press@albanianregistry.org
Replies within 24 hours, weekdays. For anything time-sensitive, mark "URGENT" in subject.

Fact sheet

Citable numbers and definitions.

U.S. Census count

~224,000

ACS 2024, self-reported Albanian ancestry

Community estimate

~1,000,000

Includes ethnic Albanians from Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Çamëria, Arbëreshë, and 2nd–3rd-gen US-born

Top states

NY · MI · MA

~60% of Census-counted Albanian Americans

Founded

2026

501(c)(3) nonprofit, IRS confirmation pending

Albanian Citizenship Law

Law 113/2020

Extends citizenship by descent up to great-grandparent; no residency requirement

Hashtag

#CountMeAlbanian

Sources: U.S. Census ACS 2020 + 2024, Albanian American Civic League, Albanian Nationality Law (Law No. 113/2020). Underlying methodology: About NAR.

Team

Who runs NAR.

Ervin Toro, founder of the National Albanian Registry

Founder

Ervin Toro, MBA

Born in Fier, Albania. Came to New York in 1997, during the post-Pyramid civil unrest. Studied at Pace University and Wagner College.

Day job: international mobility and immigration at Standard Chartered Bank since 2022. Before that, similar roles at GAF, Sony Music Entertainment, Samsung Electronics America, and Barclays — about 17 years of moving people across borders for work.

On the side: hosts the Red Line Talk Show podcast (conversations with Albanian American artists, business owners, and community organizers), helped start Shq1pe Co. and Albanian Roots · Rrënjët Shqiptare, and helps organize the New York Albanian Parade.

Founded NAR after seeing the persistent gap between the Census number (224K) and what the community actually knows about itself (closer to a million).

More: ervintoro.com · LinkedIn. Available for interviews in English, Albanian, and Spanish. On-camera, recorded audio, and on-record print.

Enri Zhulati, founding partner of NAR

Tech & writing

Enri Zhulati

Albanian-born, US-based. Background in SEO and conversion marketing; runs Albania Visit, an English-language site about Albania for the diaspora and curious travelers.

At NAR: built the site, set up the data pipeline, and writes the citizenship-by-descent guides. Happy to talk to reporters about how the registry works, what the data shows, and the 2020 Citizenship Law.

Marsel Alickolli, founding partner of NAR

Founding partner · Texas & community

Marsel Alickolli

Born in Pogradec, Albania, on the southeastern lakeshore. Texas-based industry leader and entrepreneur. Founder of GPS Foods — a wholesale foodservice distributor — with nearly two decades in supply-chain optimization, sourcing high-quality food products, market expansion, and relationship-building with restaurants and foodservice providers across the South.

At NAR: leads Texas and DFW-region outreach, and is building the Albanian-owned business directory off his existing distribution network — pizzerias, restaurants, grocers, ethnic markets — most of which the Census has never recorded as Albanian-owned. His relationships open the count outside the Northeast corridor for the first time.

More: gpsfoodsusa.com · Direct contact card. Available for interviews in English and Albanian, with on-the-ground perspective on Texas Albanian small-business networks and southern-state diaspora.

Story angles

What there is to write about.

  • The first community-led count of an invisible population

    224K Census-counted vs. ~1M actually here. NAR is the first attempt to close that gap from inside the community, not from the federal government.

  • Albanian citizenship by descent

    Albania's 2020 Citizenship Law extends descent eligibility up to great-grandparent. Most American Albanians qualify and don't know it. The diaspora's largest legal entitlement story in a generation.

  • The pizzeria-and-roofing economy

    Albanians own ~1,500+ pizzerias in the Northeast and a substantial share of NYC-tristate construction. Until NAR, no verified count of Albanian-owned business in America existed.

  • Cross-confessional unity in a Balkan-American diaspora

    ~50% Muslim, ~25% Catholic, ~25% Orthodox — yet nationality precedes religion. NAR's endorsement push deliberately spans the three communities.

  • The trust gap

    Albania ranks dead last (90/90) on world generalized-trust surveys. NAR's whole premise — get Albanians to put their name on a list — runs against that grain. Why this might work, and what makes it different.

Brand assets

Logos, eagle, and use guidance.

For editorial use only. The NAR primary lockup is a dot-matrix double-headed eagle beside the wordmark — the dots represent individual Albanian Americans being counted, one by one. Use the full lockup wherever space permits. Use the isolated dot-eagle (square crop) for avatars and small placements. Don't recolor the dots. Don't substitute the NAR dot-eagle with the Republic of Albania state eagle — they are distinct marks. Need a different format (transparent PNG, vector EPS, social-tile sized)? Email press@albanianregistry.org and we'll send it within the day.

Primary lockup · NAR-owned

National Albanian Registry — full lockup

Primary lockup · horizontal

Full lockup (PNG · 1375×356, transparent)

Heritage iconography · public domain

The Albanian double-headed eagle is a national symbol of the Albanian people in the public domain. It predates and is not owned by NAR. We include it in supporting lockups as a heritage cue — never as our standalone institutional identity, and never in a way that suggests endorsement by the Republic of Albania.

  • Albanian double-headed eagle in NAR red

    Heritage eagle · light backgrounds

    Eagle (red) (SVG)

    Public-domain Albanian national eagle, NAR red.

  • Albanian double-headed eagle in white

    Heritage eagle · dark backgrounds

    Eagle (white) (SVG)

    Public-domain Albanian national eagle, white.

Color palette

  • NAR Red

    #B22230

  • Ink

    #1A1A1A

  • Cream

    #FBE9E7

  • Gold rule

    #D4A93C

Do

  • · Use the stacked lockup for byline credits.
  • · Pair the white eagle with red, ink, or photographic backgrounds.
  • · Maintain clearspace equal to the eagle's height around the mark.

Don't

  • · Recolor the eagle outside the four palette colors.
  • · Stretch, skew, rotate, or add effects.
  • · Pair NAR marks with the Albanian government seal as if endorsed.

Boilerplate

"The National Albanian Registry (NAR) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit producing the first community-led count of Albanian Americans. The U.S. Census records approximately 224,000 Albanian Americans; community estimates including ethnic Albanians from Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Çamëria, plus second- and third-generation Americans, place the real number near 1 million. Founded in 2026, NAR is governed by a volunteer board with regional ambassadors across the United States. Registration is free, takes 60 seconds, and yields a digital Certificate of Albanian Heritage."

Cleared for any media use. Cite as: National Albanian Registry, albanianregistry.org.