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CHER Advisory Board 2025-2026

The CHER Advisory Board consists of Trinity faculty, staff, students, and Hartford residents. Members provide feedback about current efforts and offer guidance on future directions. Learn more about the members below.

 

CHER Advisory Board Members, 2025-2026

Dr. Elise Castillo conducts qualitative research on school choice policies, focusing on their possibilities for, and limitations to, advancing racially integrated, equitable, and democratic public education. As an interdisciplinary scholar, she employs concepts from political science, sociology, and critical policy analysis.Dr. Castillo has a particular interest in understanding how diverse Asian American students and families experience and make sense of school choice and integration policies, and has been examining this topic in Greater Hartford, Connecticut, and New York City. Related work investigates the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on school integration organizing in New York City, where school choice has exacerbated segregation over the last two decades; and how progressive and community-based charter schools can advance or hinder racial equity and integration. As an educator, Dr. Castillo is committed to supporting her students’ capacities to critically engage with issues related to equity, democracy, and the public good. A former middle and high school English teacher, Dr. Castillo holds an MA and PhD in Education Policy from the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley, an MS in Secondary Teaching from Pace University, and a BA in English and Creative Writing from Barnard College.

Yesenia Gilbert works for the Village for Families and Children as their Early Childhood Manager. She has also started working with Goodwin Community College as their Certified ESOL teacher for their continuing education department. The personal statement that defines the work she has committed to doing daily is “Being able to help families and students be successful by providing a compassionate and culturally attuned, family-centered approach to family dynamics.” She is currently completing my Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership from Charter Oak State College and is driven by a strong aspiration to continue to grow within the Early Childhood and Social Service field. This aspiration fuels her professional journey and inspires her to set high standards for herself. Her goal, driven in all her endeavors, is to set an example for her three beautiful children so they can be proud of the person she is working towards. She was born in Puerto Rico and moved to Connecticut when she was two years old; she is proud of her heritage and cultural background, which drives her daily life and decisions. In her spare time, she loves going to the gym and going on long car rides with soulful music to help cleanse her mind. 

Leticia Cotto is the Chief Administrative Officer of the Hartford Public Library in Connecticut.  She has over 27 years of experience developing and delivering equitable access to quality programs and services in early childhood literacy, adult education and cultural programming, and computer literacy.  Before serving as CAO, Leticia managed one of the busiest branches in the library system in addition to co-owning a coffee house and bookstore specializing in the sale of books by Latinx authors and about Latinx themes.  She holds a master’s degree in Organizational Management from the University of Saint Joseph, is a member of the leadership team for Hartford Deportation Defense and board chair for the San Juan Center Inc.  Leticia strongly believes in the power of libraries as vehicles of change and democratizing access to critical information and resources that help improve and enrich lives and communities.

Roberto Cotto is the Director of DEI Campus & Community Engagement at Trinity. Robert holds a Ph.D. in Learning, Leadership, and Education Policy from the University of Connecticut and completed his dissertation on “Latinx and Black Parent Responses to School Closure in Redeveloping Hartford, CT.” Robert worked with the HMTCA-Trinity Partnership at Trinity from 2014-2022 and previously worked as a K-12 educational researcher and teacher.

 

Laura Humm Delgado is an Assistant Professor of Urban Studies, an urban planning scholar and former practitioner.  She received a Master in City Planning and a PhD in Urban and Regional Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and she previously worked for the City of Boston researching affordable housing, homeownership, land use, and abandoned properties.  Her research focuses on housing and community development, including the role of community-based organizations and public agencies, in U.S. cities.  Her most recent research looks at public libraries and how they draw on community resources to facilitate immigrant integration at the neighborhood level.  Previously, her research has addressed the foreclosure crisis, gentrification, and homelessness.  She has experience teaching housing and community development, research methods, urban planning history and theory, and GIS at MIT and Boston University.  As a teacher, she values discussion-based classes and encourages students to incorporate experiential learning into their coursework.

Alex Helberg is a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Allan K. Smith Center for Writing and Rhetoric. He studied at Carnegie Mellon University, where he earned his Master’s and Doctoral degrees studying the rhetoric of public engagement in activist and advocacy contexts under the direction of Dr. Linda Flower. During his time at Carnegie Mellon, Helberg actively researched and participated in local food justice movements, ranging from hunger charities to radical food distribution collectives. He also worked to develop technology-enhanced learning tools, such as DocuScope Classroom, while researching the role of language modeling and student metacognition in writing classrooms. These dual foci on social justice advocacy and technology have led to his current line of research investigating how rhetoric and writing literacy practices could (or should) be affected by the sudden onset of generative A.I. technologies, and the degree to which these technologies pose ethical problems within and outside of the classroom. His courses in digital rhetoric employ a critical approach to helping students analyze new media ecologies, digital discourse communities, and multimodal communication practices. Helberg is currently the co-Executive Producer of the public scholarship project and podcast re:verb.

Melinda L. Johnson is the Director for Community Engagement for the Office of the Mayor, City of Hartford.  She brings more than 12 years of experience working to dismantle racial, social, and economic inequities. Johnson is an advocate and innovator. She is dedicated to serving her community and has done so in various capacities, including as the inaugural Chair of the Connecticut Corrections Advisory Committee, former Commissioner of the Permanent Commission on the Status of Hartford Women, and inaugural Director of Community Engagement and Advocacy for YWCA Hartford Region (YWCA). Prior to joining YWCA, she served in roles with the Connecticut Women’s Educational and Legal Fund and the Urban League of Greater Hartford.   Johnson’s experience includes clinical case management and program management in the areas of youth development, mental health, substance abuse, criminal justice, and sexual trauma. Today, she uses the tools she has acquired from these experiences to work with constituents and communities within Hartford, bridging gaps and building connections.  Johnson received both her bachelor’s degree in Religious Art and her master’s degree in Christian Counseling from Tabernacle Bible College and Seminary in Tampa, Florida. Melinda is the wife of Pastor Ashley J. Johnson. Together they are raising two sons, leading the congregation of Urban Hope Refuge church, and advancing their family legacy through their business,  Brothers Johnson 1929 Hat Co LLC.

Nancy Y. Mendez, (MLIS) is the Executive Assistant to Principal Richard Quinn at Hartford Magnet Trinity College Academy (HMTCA). She has over 12 years of experience working in community engagement in the City of Hartford, in her previous role as the Community Specialist for Hartford Public Schools, and as the Youth Services Librarian at the Hartford Public Library, Park Street Branch. Nancy holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Individualized Studies from Charter Oak State College and a Master of Library and Information Science degree from Louisiana State University. Nancy’s extensive knowledge of Hartford schools and local community organizations has proven to be essential in her work supporting students and families in Hartford. Nancy’s passion for advocacy is clear in her work for quality integrated education for ALL Hartford children in her role as a Board Member for the Sheff Coalition Movement. For the past 4 years, Nancy has worked in partnership with SINA, Inc. and the Hartford Public Library to create a yearly “Book Writing Contest” for students who live in Hartford or who attend Hartford Schools in grades from Kindergarten to 5th grade. This has allowed students to become published authors of 35 books.

Amy Myerson joined Trinity College in 2021 as the Senior Director of the Grants Office. She has over 20 years of experience in grants administration and grant writing. She came to Trinity from Wheeler Clinic, a federally qualified health center and community mental health provider, where she served as Senior Director of Grants for 14 years. One of the many things that drew Amy to Trinity is the college’s focus on engagement with the Hartford community. Amy received a BS in Psychology from the University of Florida and an MA in Social Psychology from Ohio State University.

 

John Selders Reverend Doctor John L. Selders, Jr. is an ordained minister serving in the United Church of Christ, the Organizing Pastor of Amistad United Church of Christ, Hartford, CT, former Associate College Chaplain and currently Assistant Dean of Students and Coordinator of Community Standards at Trinity College, and one of the leaders of Moral Monday CT.

 

Logan Singerman is the Executive Director at Southside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance (SINA). Before working full-time at SINA, Logan worked as the Director of Outreach Ministries at Center Church where he assisted 900 community members a year in navigating resources and oversaw the distribution of over $600,000 worth of assistance. Prior, Logan served for three years as an AmeriCorps VISTA at Hands on Hartford and Hartford City Hall with the North Hartford Promise Zone.

Tiana Starks proudly calls Hartford home. Raised in the city, she graduated from Global Communications Academy and went on to earn a degree in Sociology with a minor in Community Action from Trinity College, where she graduated in 2021. Her journey began as the Community Liaison for the City of Hartford, where she built strong relationships and valued collaboration. Now serving as the Senior Community Impact Associate at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, Tiana loves connecting people and resources to create positive change.

 

David Tatem has been at Trinity since 1999, currently as an Instructional Technologist in the Research, Instruction, and Technology department. He is the primary contact person for faculty members in the Social Sciences. He is the point person for 3D printing, Virtual Reality systems, and the drone program as well being the support contact for statistical software such as SPSS and STATA and also supports the use of GIS.

 

 

Mafer Vacca is a junior majoring in Urban Studies and minoring in Architectural Studies. This semester, she is a TA for the Transportation Equity and Parking Justice Project at the Liberal Arts Action Lab. She was also part of the Family Finance Project during the spring of my freshman year. She is passionate about increasing Trinity’s connection to Hartford and its urban community, something she gets to do in her role as a Community Engagement Fellow at CHER, alongside Sofia. Together, they design and plan events that help increase student outings to Hartford, creating a closer relationship with the city, but also reflecting about what are some of the issues in the place that they live in. Besides CHER, she is also a research assistant at the Center for Caribbean Studies and an intern with the CT Department of Housing. Here is a link to a couple of slides that they were able to make explaining their work as the fellows.
Sofia Salgado Melo is from Belo Horizonte, Brazil and she is a Sophomore at Trinity.  She was a part of the Community Action Gateway during my freshman year and currently she is double majoring in Political Science and Economics. I am super excited to be working with CHER this year as a Community Engagement Fellow!