Several CHER programs are recognizing anniversaries in 2020 and 2021. We are reflecting on twenty-five years of community learning, twenty years of Trinfo.Café, twenty years of the Learning Corridor, ten years of the community garden at Trinfo, and forty years of the Office of Community Service and Civic Engagement. Last year also marked more than two decades of the Thanksgiving and Sponsor-a-Snowman holiday drives and the Jones-Zimmerman Academic Mentoring Program. 
“The confluence of these anniversaries illustrates Trinity’s long-standing commitment to Hartford as an institutional partner, neighbor, and steward,” writes Carlos Espinosa, Director of Trinfo.Café and the Office of Community Relations, “These anniversaries also capture Trinity’s progress toward becoming the Liberal Arts College in the City, where applied service learning meets service to the community and the fostering of civic engagement.”
To mark these anniversaries, we will be rolling out a “CHER Anniversaries” series of stories on our blog, in our newsletters, and on social media. Our goal with these stories is to recognize the long term work of our partners, students, alumni, faculty, and staff; to reflect on the connections between Trinity and Hartford; and to lay the foundation for how we want to move forward together for decades to come. Recognizing that our alumni are a key part of this story, we are highlighting the first of an ongoing series of alumni spotlights in our March newsletter as well.
In 2018, the founding of the Center for Hartford Engagement and Research brought together five Trinity programs that aim to strengthen academic and co-curricular partnerships between Trinity and Hartford: Community Learning, the HMTCA Partnership, the Liberal Arts Action Lab, the Office of Community Service and Civic Engagement, and Trinfo.Café. CHER Director and Associate Professor Abby Fisher Williamson writes, “Although CHER is new, four of our constituent programs have been engaged in this work for decades. These anniversaries offer us an important moment to recognize the long-term commitment, reflect on our history, and consider ways to enrich our partnerships moving forward.”
This digital storytelling series of Trinity’s community engagement over the years is dedicated to honoring our partners, alumni, students, faculty, and staff who have worked and continue to work to deepen our connections with Hartford, form mutually beneficial relationships, and foster engaged student learning. We also hope this occasion will allow us to reflect on how we want to move forward to continually improve our programs and relationships in the community.
As pieces of this story are released, we will add them to the list below.
CHER Anniversary Series:
Over 20 Years of Annual Community Service Holiday Drives
Alumni Spotlights: Jack Hale ‘70 and Shanelle Morris ‘16
Reflecting on the 20th Anniversary of the Learning Corridor
Reflecting on over Twenty Years of Trinfo.Café and Ten Seasons of the Community Garden
