![\"Trinfo.Caf\u00e9\"](\"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/reporter-winter2014\/files\/2014\/02\/Trinfo3.jpg\")
<\/a>Trinfo.Caf\u00e9<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cTrinfo.Caf\u00e9 is a place of encounter,\u201d says its director, Carlos Espinosa \u201996, M\u201998. Yes, it\u2019s a cyber caf\u00e9, where Trinity\u2019s Hartford neighbors can go online and enjoy a cup of coffee. It\u2019s also an academic center that fosters research opportunities between Trinity faculty and students and the Greater Hartford community. But at its essence, Trinfo.Caf\u00e9 is a bridge, connecting the city of Hartford and Trinity College to the benefit of each.<\/p>\n
The mission of Trinfo.Caf\u00e9, located on Broad Street, across the street from the Learning Corridor and the Vernon Street entrance to the College, is to close the digital divide between Trinity and the surrounding neighborhood. Only 6 percent of the College\u2019s immediate neighbors have Internet access at home. Trinfo.Caf\u00e9 offers free Internet, e-mail, and Web hosting and provides classes in basic computer literacy and Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Twice yearly, the caf\u00e9 gives away computers to Hartford residents who cannot afford their own. \u201cWe\u2019re investing in the infrastructure of the community,\u201d says Espinosa.<\/p>\n
QuestBridge Scholar Richelle Benjamin \u201915, an education studies major who teaches at the caf\u00e9, notes that so much in life is based in technology. \u201cOur courses can help patrons get a better job, or get a job period.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/a>Class of 1918 Scholar George Thekkedath \u201916, top right, helps neighborhood resident Geraldo Santiago.<\/p><\/div>\n
Walk into the caf\u00e9, and you are likely to see a diverse group of people engaged in a wide array of tasks. Young adults check their Facebook pages or e-mail friends. A single mother\u2013her school-aged children in tow\u2013prints copies of her r\u00e9sum\u00e9 for a job interview. Titus Thompson, a 50-something Army veteran from East Hartford, comes to the caf\u00e9 for the social aspect and to go on eBay. \u201cI collect Agatha Christie novels,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Some patrons visit the caf\u00e9 every day, like Abdul Tall, who came to the United States from Senegal. An elementary school teacher in his native country, he now works as a clerk in a Hartford law firm and uses the caf\u00e9 to stay in touch with his wife and three children back home. \u201cFor me, the caf\u00e9 is a godsend,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve been coming here for 12 years. Even the public library doesn\u2019t offer the same accommodations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tall, who hopes to become a U.S. citizen, had limited computer experience when he first walked through the caf\u00e9\u2019s doors. But with help from Espinosa and fellow patrons, he\u2019s much more technology savvy. \u201cNow I can\u2019t do anything without a computer,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Posse Scholar Jennifer Idrovo ’16 works with a student at the Montessori Magnet School at the Learning Corridor.<\/p><\/div>\n
With only two staff members\u2013Espinosa and graduate assistant Isabella Elizalde \u201912\u2013student workers such as Benjamin are integral to Trinfo\u2019s success. They supervise the caf\u00e9 in the evenings and on weekends, revise existing programs, and develop new ones for patrons. They also teach courses, both on-site and off, including an after-school program at the caf\u00e9. And they get a lot back in return.<\/p>\n
Benjamin says working at the caf\u00e9 gives her perspective on her own life. \u201cIt\u2019s easy to think that the problems of college students are the only problems out there, but some of our patrons have seen real challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the past two summers, Benjamin has taught a summer program for OPMAD (Organized Parents Make a Difference), a nonprofit founded by Hartford parents who want better after-school programming, at the Environmental Sciences Magnet School at Mary Hooker. Last year, it was a course in urban gardening at the school. This year, the topic was Australia and Japan. Using Microsoft PowerPoint, students ages five to 12 made travel brochures. \u201cWe challenged the students to find interesting facts about the two countries based on four categories: culture, history, food, and animals,\u201d says Benjamin.<\/p>\n
Posse Scholar Pauline Lake \u201913, a computer science and education studies major, is passionate about getting young people interested in computer science. As a Trinfo student worker, she developed a six-week, 18-session after-school program, \u201cI\u2019ll Write that App for You,\u201d where high school students developed their own applications for Android phones using the computer program App Inventor. \u201cPlaying on the \u2018cool\u2019 factor of working with smartphones, the program increased student interest in technology,\u201d she says. Her students\u2019 final projects included applications that helped with math skills and note taking.<\/p>\n
Now Lake works as a teaching consultant, training Hartford-area teachers to run the same program she developed at the caf\u00e9. \u201cThis is an example of how Trinfo not only helps its patrons but also provides wonderful experiences and skill-building opportunities for its student workers,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Student workers from the College play a vital role at Trinfo.Caf\u00e9.<\/p><\/div>\n
In conjunction with Trinity\u2019s Community Learning Initiative, Trinfo.Caf\u00e9 sponsors a fellowship program for students returning from study abroad who wish to engage in community work in Hartford. The fellowship includes an academic component, where students write a comparative essay on their experiences in the United States and abroad. Last year\u2019s Trinfo.Caf\u00e9 Community Fellow was Raymond and Elizabeth Oosting Scholar Sarah Kacevich \u201913, a public policy and law and Hispanic studies major, who researched how liberation theology was employed in Buenos Aires. She continued her research in Hartford at Jubilee House, a community organization run by the Sisters of Saint Joseph.<\/p>\n
Fostering research opportunities such as Kacevich\u2019s is an important part of Trinfo.Caf\u00e9\u2019s work. \u201cFor years, we were this multilane highway going out into the community and only a dusty dirt road leading back to the campus. Today under the direction of the Center for Urban and Global Studies, we\u2019ve successfully paved that dirt road into a multilane highway back to the campus,\u201d says Espinosa. Student and faculty research within the city not only benefits Hartford but also contributes to the core mission of Trinity, he says.<\/p>\n
Launched in 2000 with a grant from the Kellogg Foundation, the caf\u00e9 was part of the Smart Neighborhood Initiative (SNI). \u201cInitially, we focused on getting out to small businesses and nonprofits, helping to pull them into the 21st century,\u201d says Espinosa, who joined Trinity in 1999 as the caf\u00e9\u2019s outreach coordinator.<\/p>\n
Espinosa is the spirit of Trinfo. An education studies and sociology major, he considered a career as a third-grade teacher before earning his master\u2019s in public policy from Trinity in 1998. Before coming to Trinfo, he worked in Washington, D.C., as a policy analyst for the Center for Community Change, lobbying on Capitol Hill and working with local community organizing groups.<\/p>\n
In the early years, Trinfo.Caf\u00e9 provided computers and training and built Web sites for 165 community organizations. One of those organizations was OPMAD. \u201cTrinfo provided our first computers, trained our staff, and offered technical support,\u201d says Kathy Evans, one of the founders and OPMAD\u2019s program development director. \u201cNo matter how unusual our ideas, Carlos is always there to help,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Olivia Berry \u201914, Posse Scholar Nijel Hill \u201915, Lucy M. Brainerd Memorial Scholar David Johnston \u201916, and Jordan Green \u201913 (behind Hill) entertain the crowd at Trinfo.Caf\u00e9\u2019s sixth annual Back to School Community Barbecue in September 2013.<\/p><\/div>\n
Looking forward, Espinosa hopes to continue developing Trinfo into a broader community space\u2013not only for Hartford residents but also for Trinity students. One example of this work is the community garden started last summer in a lot adjacent to the Trinfo building. \u201cTrinity students conceived of the idea, and partnering with the caf\u00e9, a dozen neighborhood families are now learning about urban farming and the importance of good nutrition and eating habits by growing their own food,\u201d says Espinosa. Students have plans to build a hydroponics system in the basement and are developing an after-school program that connects to students at the Learning Corridor schools.<\/p>\n
Tom Harrington, associate professor of language and culture studies, regularly partners with Trinfo and Espinosa. \u201cCarlos is an administrator with the mind of an academic,\u201d he says. In Harrington\u2019s \u201cHispanic Hartford\u201d class, students examine perceptions of Latino identity through interviews with residents on Park Street, the epicenter of Latino life in Frog Hollow. For their final projects, they created podcasts from the interviews with the help of Trinfo.Caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Class of 1916 Scholar Kaitlin Sprague ’16 works with a student from the Montessori Magnet School.<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cTo have a democratic society, we need places where people from different social, political, and ethnic backgrounds can meet,\u201d says Harrington. \u201cTrinfo is such a place.\u201d<\/p>\n
Elizalde, an Elizabeth and G. Keith Funston Scholar, came to Trinfo when she was working on a photo project during her senior year. A political science and studio arts major, she needed help developing contacts for a photo essay on Latino businesses on Park Street. She now works at the caf\u00e9 while pursuing a master\u2019s in American studies, with a concentration in museum studies, at the College.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorking at Trinfo has not just made me more in touch with the Hartford community, it\u2019s made me a part of the community,\u201d says Elizalde.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Bridging the digital divide \u2026 and more by Mary Howard \u201cTrinfo.Caf\u00e9 is a place of encounter,\u201d says its director, Carlos Espinosa \u201996, M\u201998. Yes, it\u2019s a cyber caf\u00e9, where Trinity\u2019s Hartford neighbors can go online and enjoy a cup of … Continue reading