{"id":7355,"date":"2026-05-12T09:33:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T13:33:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/?page_id=7355"},"modified":"2026-05-12T09:33:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T13:33:32","slug":"trinity-treasure","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/fall-2021\/along-the-walk\/trinity-treasure\/","title":{"rendered":"Trinity Treasure"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by Nick Caito<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Growing up in Hartford, Carlos Espinosa \u201996, M\u201998 loved accompanying his dad to the Friendly\u2019s on Broad Street for ice cream. For the past 21 years\u2014ever since the former Friendly\u2019s became the home of Trinfo.Caf\u00e9\u2014Espinosa has been retracing the steps of his childhood outings as he heads to work each day as director of community relations and Trinfo.Caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n

After earning a B.A. in educational studies and sociology and an M.A. in public policy, Espinosa worked in community organizing with Connecticut nonprofits and in Washington, D.C., before joining his alma mater. He is known for his devotion to strengthening connections between Trinity and Hartford; developing community partnerships; collaborating with professors, staff, and students; and creating a welcoming experience for all at Trinfo.Caf\u00e9. His longtime colleague, Instructional Technologist Dave Tatem, says, \u201cCarlos looks for ways to improve things. Even when something\u2019s really challenging, he\u2019s always cheerful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trinfo.Caf\u00e9 opened in 2000 as the hub of Trinity\u2019s Smart Neighborhood Initiative, with a goal to bridge the community\u2019s \u201cdigital divide\u201d through computer technology and internet access. Today, Espinosa says, \u201cTechnology is still at the core of Trinfo, but we\u2019ve become a much broader community space.\u201d His role has expanded, too. Within a few years after his initial job reaching out to organizations to offer internet access, he became Trinfo.Caf\u00e9\u2019s director. In 2018, he was promoted to his current position, coinciding with the creation of Trinity\u2019s Center for Hartford Engagement and Research (CHER)<\/a>, which brought together several community engagement programs at the college.<\/p>\n

Espinosa is a parent of two, along with wife Luiselle Rivera M\u201908. These days at Trinfo.Caf\u00e9, he is especially energized by a student leadership initiative. \u201cAll our student workers organize and put on events open to the community.\u201d Examples include yoga sessions, a portrait-painting event, and a Halloween celebration, when neighborhood children visited the Trinfo.Caf\u00e9 Community Garden to pick out and decorate pumpkins before enjoying snacks and cartoon movies.<\/p>\n

Espinosa learned long ago that a good community organizer works behind the scenes most of the time. \u201cI\u2019ve never wanted to be in the limelight.\u201d Instead, he says, \u201cI\u2019m happy being a good contributor to a variety of institutional efforts to make this a better place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learn more about Trinfo.Caf\u00e9<\/a> on their website.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note: \u201cTrinity Treasure\u201d highlights a person, place, or thing on campus that is just what the name implies: a Trinity treasure. Do you have an idea for what to showcase? Please send your suggestions to\u00a0<\/em>sonya.adams@trincoll.edu<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Growing up in Hartford, Carlos Espinosa \u201996, M\u201998 loved accompanying his dad to the Friendly\u2019s on Broad Street for ice cream. For the past 21 years\u2014ever since the former Friendly\u2019s became the home of Trinfo.Caf\u00e9\u2014Espinosa has been retracing the steps of his childhood outings as he heads to work each day as director of community […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"parent":7213,"menu_order":14,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7355","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTrinity Treasure - The Trinity Reporter<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.trincoll.edu\/reporter\/fall-2021\/along-the-walk\/trinity-treasure\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trinity Treasure\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Growing up in Hartford, Carlos Espinosa \u201996, M\u201998 loved accompanying his dad to the Friendly\u2019s on Broad Street for ice cream. 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