About

PURPOSE: The Mobile Apps for Hartford Program is a summer employment opportunity that focuses on high school students building mobile applications for Hartford’s City Departments and local nonprofit provider agencies. 

PROCESS: Mobile Apps for Hartford Program is a collaborative project between Mobile CSP at Trinity College, the City of Hartford, and the Connecticut Chapter of the Computer Science Teachers Association. Students from the Hartford area who have been accepted into the program will work as paid members of a small team developing mobile applications from the ground up. In the first year of the program, the students worked with the Mayor’s Office, other departments of City government and nonprofit agencies to determine their operational needs and to develop up to five application solutions that address them. In the second year of the program, a new group of students was be hired to refine, test, and distribute the apps from the previous year. For Summer 2018, new group of students will be hired to work with a new set of City government and nonprofit agencies. Along the way, students will gain valuable experience working in collaboration with peers and clients, bringing projects from inception through design, refinement, testing, and distribution.

The Mobile Apps for Hartford Program is held at Trinity College and runs 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, for 4 weeks. The fifth year of the program will take place from July 9, 2018 to August 3, 2018. Students will be expected to travel to and from Trinity College each day. In the event that transportation is not available, bus passes will be provided.

Since prior programming experience in App Inventor is required, Mobile Apps for Hartford has been made available to Hartford high school students who have completed the Mobile Computer Science Principles course during the 2013-2014, 2014-2015, 2015-2016, 2016-2017, or 2017-2018 academic year (taught by teachers trained during the summer of 2013, summer of 2014, or summer of 2015 at Trinity with the support of funding from the City and the National Science Foundation). The program is open to students who are interested in all career fields. Those interested in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields are especially encouraged to apply.

PAY-OFF: The program’s goal is to introduce high school students, including more young women, to the computing work force and provide them with career skills and college readiness advice that will contribute to their future success. The main activity of the program is the development of mobile applications that meet the needs of the City of Hartford’s departments and nonprofit agencies. All applications will be open source and developed using App Inventor. Completed applications also will be shareable with the public. Accepted students will receive a stipend at the completion of their internship. The number of positions available for Summer 2018 will be contingent on the availability of funding. In addition, a Trinity College undergraduate mentor will assist and support the students during the summer.

MOBILE APPS FOR HARTFORD TEAM:

Trinity - Professor Ralph Morelli (Principal Investigator), Pauline Lake (Teaching Consultant/Program Director/Trinity Graduate '13), Joseph Kess (Lead Instructor 2013, 2014), Stephanie Velarde '19 (Lead Instructor 2016),  Selina Ortiz '19 (Lead Instructor 2017), Christine Boyle '15 (Trinity Graduate; 2014 Mentor), Kenneth Thomas '17 (Trinity Undergraduate Mentor), Bemnet Demere '19 (Lead Instructor, 2018)

City of Hartford – Trish Torruella, Assistant Director, Department for Families, Children, Youth and Recreation (Grant Manager), Joel Sanchez, Division for Youth (Technical Advisor)

Mobile Apps for Hartford has 501(c)(3) status through Trinity College.