Trinfo Café Building Closed Until Further Notice For Fire Safety and HVAC Repairs

Caitlin Doherty ’26

Executive News Editor

Located at 1300 Broad St., Trinfo Café is a community space on the edge of Trinity’s campus that originally opened in 2000 as a technology center for Hartford residents who otherwise might not have access to the internet or information on how to navigate the digital world. Since its founding, Trinfo has continued to offer widespread services to the college’s local neighbors, including computer access, assistance with government forms, a community garden and a free tax preparation clinic. In late June of 2024, the building closed unexpectedly, and on Monday, Sept. 23, Trinfo Cafe released an announcement that it would continue to be closed until further notice through a post on the @trincollcher Instagram account. “Earlier this year, Trinfo had an issue with the heating system, and this summer, the cooling system also failed,” said Liliana Polley, Director of CHER (Center for Hartford Research and Engagement) Strategic Partnerships in a statement to the Tripod. “Upon further inspection, it was determined that the fire system project mandated by the City needs to be done, and the building cannot be occupied until the fire system and HVAC projects are completed.”

While the physical Trinfo building is closed, certain services have continued to be offered in other locations on campus. One central place is the Trinfo community garden where local residents can cultivate vegetables, flowers, or other plants. “Trinfo’s garden remains open and thriving. Gardeners continue to hone their gardening skills and take advantage of the free community garden consultant and events at the garden. Recently, Trinfo was the recipient of a grant from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving for the Trinfo Community Garden through the Hartford Love Your Block Community Grant. The grant funded the restoration of the garden beds and fence and provided other much-needed improvements to the garden,” wrote Polley to the Tripod.  Since the beginning of the fall semester, there have been service days for different local groups and a paint night for students held at the garden, which is in a lot next to the Trinfo building. Student groups have also been able to host events in collaboration with the garden; on Saturday, Oct. 28, Trinity’s Men of Color Alliance held their Community Garden Bash with activities, music and food for the Trinity and Hartford community.

In recent weeks, Trinfo has also introduced new initiatives for local high school students to increase college access and career readiness. “We found spaces on campus to offer students from Hartford Public Schools (HPS) one-on-one peer tutoring at the Writing Center, advising sessions with the Career and Life Design Center, and information sessions with the Admission Office. HPS [Hartford Public School] students can access these free services by scanning a QR code and registering online,” explained Polley. “Additionally, we are currently in the process of determining a campus location to relocate the VITA tax preparation clinic to serve the broader Hartford community.”

Since Trinfo’s building closed in June, a number of student employees have continued to work to support these programs, although they are frustrated they cannot offer the same level of service to their Hartford patrons as they once did.  “[Trinfo has] been a staple space for community outreach on behalf of Trinity.  A lot of the people that used to go don’t have anywhere to go anymore because the other spaces where we have programming on campus are very limited.” said Eddie Rodriguez ’25, who began working at Trinfo during his sophomore year, in an interview with the Tripod.  “As college students we’re just here for four years, but the people that live around this community we’re a part of and the city we’re in… have been here their entire lives. Trinfo has been open for 20 plus years, so there’s people that have grown up with Trinfo,” he continued later in the interview.  

Another student employee, Jeremias Vazquez ’25, started working in the building when he was a first year and has seen it undergo many changes. He noted that there used to be at least ten students working alongside him, while this semester there are only three student employees. “My freshman year… the only day we were not open were on Sundays,” he said to the Tripod. “From there we jumped to [being open] Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and that was all because of the budget cut that we received.  That not only affected Trinfo community members but also the students.” Both Eddie Rodriguez and Jeremias Vazquez are motivated to see the building reopened as soon as possible, which they shared in their joint interview. “We don’t want any of the work that has already been developed to just go to waste or just stay where it has been,” said Jeremias. “We just want to keep that connection [between Hartford and Trinity] alive.”

There is not yet a projected date for when Trinfo’s building will reopen. “We currently do not have a specific timeline for reopening, but we anticipate having more information later this fall. We will continue to provide updates as soon as we have them,” said Polley in her statement. “Trinfo provides a direct connection between Trinity and the broader community, and it is important to continue sustaining and strengthening those relationships. We look forward to providing the full extent of Trinfo’s programming identified during the re-envisioning process.”  

Jeremias and Eddie shared that they are unsure that the place where they have worked and connected to Hartford throughout their years at Trinity will be reopened before they graduate in May 2025, but they hope that a timeline will become more clear soon. “Trinfo is the staple community outreach space… It’s this bridge and connection between Trinity students and the Hartford community, specifically near Frog Hollow,” said Jeremias. “It’s just a wonderful place that I think has done so much that can still do much more.”