Blog

Welcome to the new school year! CHER is excited to continue strengthening mutually beneficial partnerships between Trinity College and Hartford. In the 2024-2025 academic year, 1,214 Trinity students engaged with a CHER program at least once, learning from our Hartford community partners. In this newsletter, you will find the Trinfo reopening celebration, Liberal Arts Action Lab Recognized in National Case Study, Jessica Cruz ’26 Receives Campus Compact’s Newman Civic Fellowship and more!

Each year, Trinity Athletics goes beyond the playing field to foster stronger connections between Trinity College and the community. What begins with “Do It Day” in the fall extends into a year-round commitment to service and sustainability.

Meet Mafer Vacca '27! Mafer is an integral part of the CHER Team! She's involved and supports almost every program here and is one of our current CHER Engagement Fellows. Being from Peru she understand and deeply appreciates creating mutual beneficial partnerships in urban diverse environments and encourages students to explore and make Hartford home.

The semester-long Liberal Arts Action Lab project was particularly exciting because it launched the three-year Urban Environmental Justice in Greater Hartford grant funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, a collaboration between Trinity College's Center for Hartford Engagement & Research, Center for Caribbean Studies, and Center for Urban and Global Studies, with community partners at the Center for Leadership & Justice and the Stowe Center for Literary Activism.  In the Action Lab project, students and faculty from Trinity and CT State Community College partnered with the Center for Leadership and Justice (CLJ) to understand how residents in Hartford’s South End, a predominantly low-income community of color, were impacted by the waste incinerator. In collaboration with CLJ, our research aimed to center Hartford residents’ voices specifically by highlighting their recommendations and calls for change. 

Each year, the Hartford Environmental Justice Research Partnership will award several mini-grants for curricular development, community co-instruction, and community-engaged research. We are pleased to announce the 2025-26 recipients.

Naming Shame, Reclaiming Justice: A Reflection on Environmental Racism in Hartford, Meet the Spring semester Trin - HMTCA Tutors, Third Annual Easter Egg Hunt Brings Joy and Community to Trinity’s Campus, Senior Highlights: Congratulations to our CHER Seniors and more!

The Environmental Justice Liberal Arts Action Lab project is a component of the Hartford Environmental Justice Research Partnership grant funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, a research collaboration between Trinity College's Center for Hartford Engagement & Research, Center for Caribbean Studies, and Center for Urban and Global Studies, with community partners at the Center for Leadership & Justice and the Stowe Center for Literary Activism. List image taken by Sarah McCoy.

As we celebrate the Class of 2025, we want to give a special shout-out to some of our incredible CHER seniors! From leading community-engaged research to building deep partnerships across Hartford, these students have embodied the spirit of collaboration, curiosity, and civic impact. Their work has strengthened the bridge between Trinity and the wider community, and we’re so proud of everything they’ve accomplished during their time with the Center for Hartford Engagement and Research.

Trinity College hosted the 19th Annual Trinity International Hip Hop Festival, organized by students and the faculty advisor of the Trinity Chapter of the Temple of Hip Hop, in collaboration with five dedicated community partners: Khaiim the RapOet, Hydro8sixty, Poptart, G-Whiz, and Jasmin Agosto ’10. This year’s theme, Hip Hop Saved My Life, guided the curation of a deeply immersive experience that brought together the Trinity and Greater Hartford communities.

Educational Programs Expanding at HMTCA, The Liberal Arts Action Lab receives Campus Compact Award, Exploring Hartford Through Videos with CACT 101 and more!