As the extended community of learning evolves, it will be essential to encourage
fresh thinking and to ensure that innovative ideas, once tested and proven successful,
find their way into the mainstream of College activity.
The College-Community Innovation Fund encourages faculty, students and members of the
neighborhood community to partner in innovative projects to be incorporated into
curricular and/or co-curricular models. Proposals are solicited from both the college and
the neighborhood community. Multi-disciplinary proposals are strongly encouraged, with
particular emphases on arts in community, science in an urban context, and education in
the city.
The review panel consists of the Vice President for Community and Institutional
Relations, the Assistant Director for Community Development, the Director of Information
Technology, and the Coordinator for Urban Learning Initiatives.
Faculty, students or members of the community interested in developing a proposal
should contact Elinor Jacobson,
Coordinator for Urban Learning Initiatives for further information.
The following proposals have been funded:
- A $6000 grant was awarded to the A City Celebrates! project,
a continuing Trinity College collaboration with several city partners.
The project, conceived by Trinity Professor Milla Riggio, brings
together community groups and Trinity students and faculty to study
and celebrate the carnival traditions of many cultures. A group
of Trinity students are studying at the University of the West Indies
in Port of Spain this semester (Spring '99). In addition to their
studies, students will be meeting with national and city officials,
artists, civic organizers and others to find out about the celebratory
traditions of Trinidad. Educators and performing and visual artists
from the Hartford community joined the students for a week in February,
touring the country and participating in a variety of activities.
These community educators will assist Trinity College and local
organizations in the ongoing A City Celebrates! project,
with the eventual goal of mounting an annual carnival event.
- $4000 was awarded to the "Byrd/Borders Project" for
development of new dance work examining immigrant experiences in
this country. Donald Byrd's dance company, The Group, was in residency
at Trinity College for one week, developing the piece with input
from students, faculty and community people. On four successive
weekday evenings, from 7:00 to 11:00 p.m., the company invited community
and campus collaborators to open, working sessions as the dance
piece evolved. The performance of the work in progress was held
at the Austin Arts Center on March 20, 1999.
- A grant of $37,000 has been awarded to Professors Hebe Guardiola-Diaz
(biology) and David Henderson (chemistry) for a project called the
Urban Environment Fellows Program. Students will be engaged in a
project helping to solve the urban environmental problem of how
to reclaim contaminated parcels of land. Under the professors' direction,
students will develop and implement methodologies to remove contaminants.
Throughout the project, Trinity will collaborate with the City of
Hartford's Redevelopment Agency, the State Department of Environmental
Protection, neighborhood groups and local schools. (Funding approved
March 1999)
Please see web site at www.trincoll.edu/prog/soilanalysis/
- RITMOS DE PUEBLO
FESTIVAL
(Rhythm of the People)
The Kellogg College/Community Innovation Fund awarded $25,000 for
the Ritmos de Pueblo project, $5000 toward performance costs and
$20,000 toward the production of a video documentary of the project.
The documentary covers the events and performances of the festival,
including interviews with the planning committee, performers, community
members, Trinity students and Hartford school children. Workshops
and performances were held at Hartford schools, in the neighborhood
and on the campus. We anticipate the video will be aired on Connecticut
Public Television and will be made available to community and public
access television stations throughout Connecticut. In addition,
it will be distributed to schools, libraries and art organizations.
- “Life Histories and Community Trajectories in Hartford’s
Low Income Neighborhoods: 1970-2000” received $15,000 for the
first phase of the two-year study. Dr. Janice Perlman, the Professor
of Comparative Urban Studies, is the principal investigator for
the study. The study explores the contextual, policy, and civil-society
conditions, which enable individuals and families in Hartford to
break out of the intergenerational perpetuation of poverty and social
exclusion. The study aims to: (1) inform and transform policy and
practice through a longitudinal analysis of which factors assist
individuals and families to break out of poverty; (2) model how
rigorous research can change mental paradigms and action strategies;
and (3) enable community members, faculty, and students to work
together. The first phase has consisted of a feasibility study and
exploratory research during summer/fall 2000 to determine the degree
of difficulty in identifying people interviewed 25-30 years ago
and re-locating them or their descendants within or beyond the Greater
Hartford Metropolitan area today. Dr. Perlman will ultimately compare
the findings of her study in Hartford with a similar study she is
conducting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- A $15,000 grant was awarded to the Connecticut Puerto Rican Forum
for a conversational Spanish project that is a collaboration between
the Department of Modern languages at Trinity College and the Connecticut
Puerto Rican Forum. This is an intense, 10-week program geared to
create a marked improvement in the practitioner’s conversational
Spanish. The goal of the project is to provide an opportunity for
English speakers to learn some practical Spanish that will enhance
their ability to work effectively in Spanish-speaking communities.
While both Trinity College and the Connecticut Puerto Rican Forum
have provided this service in the past, it is anticipated that the
joint venture will provide increased opportunities to maximize the
resources of the individual institutions. Trinity will provide students
and interns for teaching and laboratories for individual learning.
The Connecticut Puerto Rican Forum will provide experienced teachers
and labs.
- The Kellogg College/Community Innovation Fund has awarded a grant
to the Hartford Studies Project for a college/community collaboration
entitled Documentary Film Project: Hartford 1969-70. The project
was conceived when a Hartford resident came forward with a documentary
filmed shortly after the 1968-69 disturbances, portraying a community
meeting held in Hartford in the wake of the riots and depicting
efforts for reform in education, housing and public policy. It was
filmed as part of the war on poverty and civil rights initiatives.
Hartford Studies Project director, Susan Pennybacker, realized that
many of the original participants were still around and invited
them to a viewing, which resulted in two intensive weekends of interviewing
and filming the original participants 30 years later. The Hartford
Studies Projects plans to produce a 90 minute documentary on Hartford
in 1969, using the original documentary project, and weave it together
with the recent interviews, examining ways in which that era influenced
the evolution of Hartford during the final three decades of the
20th century.
- $21,000 awarded for a community public art project, a
collaboration between Trinity students and faculty and students
from the Learning Corridor's Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts.
A large mural will be installed on the exterior wall of 1283 Broad
Street, facing Allen Place and the Frog Hollow community. Working
under the leadership of Pablo Delano, professor of Studio Arts,
Marcelina Sierra, teacher at the Learning Corridor and Nitza
Tufino, arts educator and activist, students will create a work of
art that visually enhances the neighborhood and also reflects the
struggles and concerns of area residents. The subject matter and
design of the mural will grow out of consultation with
neighborhood residents and out of class discussions.
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