Trinfo Community Space Reopens, Celebrates 25 Years

Nick Cimillo ’26

Managing Editor

The Trinfo Community Space, formerly Trinfo.Café, officially reopened its doors with a reception on Saturday, Sept. 6, following the building’s closure for the 2024-25 academic year. Founded in 1999 as an internet café, Trinfo provides a collection of services aimed to benefit members of the Hartford community, including tech support, printing, faxing and scanning resources, a community garden, and, during spring semesters, tax filing services through the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. The reception also commemorated Trinfo’s 25th anniversary.

After a sudden thunderstorm prompted the event to be moved indoors, the reception began with welcoming remarks from Liliana Polley, executive director of the Center for Hartford Engagement and Research (CHER). In addition to providing a brief history of Trinfo, Polley listed numerous changes done to the space, including new flooring, new HVAC and fire systems, a wheelchair-accessible entrance ramp and a new sign displaying a new logo. “As excited as I am about our renovated building,” Polley concluded, “it is truly the people that make this space.”

A suite of new services were then announced: workshops for help with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), essay-writing assistance and office hours with staff from College offices such as the Career and Life Design Center (CLDC) and the Office of Financial Aid. 

“Trinfo’s reopening and new programming is the product of surveys, conversations and feedback from Hartford residents and community leaders,” Polley said. “From those conversations, the priorities that emerged included a desire for college access and career readiness, expanded programming including social services, continued tech support and sustaining the community garden.”

The reception’s next speaker was Daniel Lugo, Trinity’s newly instated 23rd president. “In the three months that I’ve been here in Hartford,” Lugo said, “I’ve been learning so much about the city: its deep history [and] vibrant neighborhoods…I’ve been inspired by the spirit of collaboration that exists in this wonderful city.” He continued with remarks about how he believes access to educational resources deepens such collaboration: “As a first-generation college graduate, I know personally how education has the power to change the course of young peoples’ lives. That’s why I find Trinfo’s college readiness programs so inspiring.”

State Representative Hilda Santiago then took the podium to deliver an official state of Connecticut citation: “Be it hereby known to all that the Connecticut General Assembly hereby offers its sincerest congratulations to Trinfo. In recognition of its 25th anniversary and reopening, Trinfo is recognized for their outstanding role in its bridge between Trinity College and Hartford’s neighborhoods, fostering community engagement, providing vital services and collaborating with over 150 partners to support residents in the city of Hartford.”

Next to speak was Councilwoman Kelly Bilodeau, delivering a proclamation from the city of Hartford, written by the city’s mayor, Arunan Arulampalam: “Whereas for 25 years, Trinfo has served as a dynamic hub, seamlessly connecting Trinity College with the surrounding Hartford neighborhoods and fostering profound relationships among residents, community partners, students and faculty…be it proclaimed that I, Arunan Arulampalam, mayor of the city of Hartford, along with the Court of Common Council and the citizens of Hartford, do hereby recognize Trinfo’s remarkable contributions.”