SLE, Office of DEI and Office of Student and Community Life Host Community Block Party

Ini-Oluwa Adegbayi ‘28

News Editor

On Saturday, Sept. 20, Trinity College’s Student Leadership and Engagement (SLE), Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and Office of Student and Community Life hosted the annual Community Block Party on Vernon Street. The event started at 4:30pm, garnering the attention of students, staff and spectators together for a time of music, vendors, performances and food. Tunes and beats filled the air, the smell of food drifted along Vernon Street and colorful vendor tents lined the street. The event, held every fall, brings together the Trinity community in a variety of ways.

When it was first launched, the Vernon Street Block Party was created to “provide an intentional festive space at the beginning of the fall semester to highlight all of the cultural organizations that call Vernon Street home, while providing space for the Trinity community to engage with the local Hartford Community,” Director of Student Leadership and Engagement (SLE) and Greek Life Mike Bodnarik said. The block party celebrates community life outside the classroom. “We spent about two months planning the event. The key items that go into the event are set-up logistics, requesting vendors and ordering food. We work specifically with Khaiim Kelly ‘03 who curates the performances, works to help us with vendors and helps spread the word about the event within the Hartford community. In addition, Robert Cotto, director of DEI campus and community engagement, intentionally reaches out to community partners to advertise and solicit community vendors,” Mike told the Tripod.  

This year’s block party featured vendors from the following businesses: Dripavellis Mobile Clothing Store, Imeelda Crafts, Lydia Baked Goods, Stonington Clothing, Candee’s Utopia, Tarot Card Readings and more. Students and staff could be seen participating in activities: eating food from local restaurants in Hartford such as Birdcode Hot Chicken and Coyote Flaco, dancing along to the live performances, mingling with each other and stopping by tables from different organizations such as the Center for Hartford Engagement and Research (CHER), the Hartford Public Library and more. “What I liked most about the block party was the food,” Kayla Houston ‘27 said in an interview with the Tripod. “I liked how it was from diverse backgrounds. I am most looking forward to the different stands that they have up. I think it’s really interesting how they have the clothing truck and the music going.”

Organizers and students say the block party is about more than just food and fun: it’s about community. “I believe the event aligns strongly with the college’s mission of, ‘Engage, Connect, Transform.’ The intentional space that is created allows for engagement amongst the entire community to occur through conversations at tables, food and performances in a welcoming space. The event also is done through collaboration and partnership across multiple offices at the College,” Bodnarik said. For many students, the event marks the start of a new academic year with energy and excitement, and a space where students can come together and interact with the community in new ways. When interviewed by the Tripod on why this event was important to Trinity students, Aninyanh Jacques ‘28 said, “As a Trinity student, there is a lot of stigma around what the Hartford community means to Trinity. I’m a POC and first-gen student and I can recognize the people within Hartford. I am able to empathize and understand them, but I think a lot of people here don’t really understand Hartford and they make Hartford out to be this bad place, but it’s just like any other inner city. Events like this are important to utilize the Hartford community and bring in the people that help build Trinity into what it is, and I think it’s very important that we get Hartford on our campus and we go out into Hartford as Trinity students.” 

Kimberly Tepan ‘28 told the Tripod, “My favorite part about the block party is the influence the community has on Trinity. We usually don’t see the community pop out to Trinity and having this shows how much the community really enjoys Trinity’s involvement.”

As the evening slowly came to an end and the last songs were played, students lingered with friends, had the last of their meals and shared the last of their memories for the evening. When asked about how the success of the event is measured, Bodnarik shared, “I measure it in the joy we see on the faces of the attendees. I also measure it in the small interactions we see all day occurring between community, staff and students. When I look at the attendance, I am looking to see if folks are enjoying themselves as well as staying at the event.” Organizers already have their eyes set on what to do next year. “A hope for me is for more community engagement and more student organizations to be involved in future years,” Bodnarik said.