Longtime Hartford community activist Luis C. Caban, one of the architects for the $100 million “Learning Corridor” revitalization of the city’s South End, is retiring from professional life, effective May 1.
Caban, executive director of the Southside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance (SINA),
 turns 65 in May.
SINA said it aims to have Cabani’s successor in place the day he retires.
A native of Puerto Rico who grew up in the Bronx, Caban served as a senior executive with several national organizations as well as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development before arriving in Hartford in 1995 as a consultant to SINA.
“Unlike my previous experiences in communities across urban America, in Hartford I found the major institutions wearing on their sleeves a real and serious commitment to neighborhood development,” said Caban. “So I stayed.”
At the time, the neighborhood had three institutional anchors: Trinity College, Hartford Hospital and the Institute of Living. The three were later joined by the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center and Connecticut Public Television, which has since moved its offices to the city’s West End.
As a SINA consultant, Caban helped complete the organization’s strategic plan, whose centerpiece was the $112 million Learning Corridor, a 116-acre campus of four public magnet schools and a theater, which was completed in 2000. The corridor serves nearly 1,500 students from Hartford and more than 40 suburban school districts.
Caban became acting executive director of SINA in July 2001 and was named executive director six months later.
Reaction to news of Caban’s impending retirement was swift and heartfelt.
“Luis lives here in the neighborhood and has had his finger on the pulse of all the efforts that have gone into improving the quality of life for those who work, live and play in Frog Hollow,” said Jason Rojas, Trinity’s director of community relations. “His leadership and knowledge will be missed at SINA and we all hope that he will continue to work on behalf of the neighborhood that Trinity calls home.”
Mayor Pedro E. Segarra e-mailed a statement through his office.
“So much of the revitalization South Hartford has experienced can be attributed to Luis’ vision and leadership,” Segarra said. “It takes a truly unique individual to bring together public and private interests in pursuit of a common goal, yet Luis has done so effortlessly, particularly in the Frog Hollow neighborhood. I join Hartford residents and stakeholders in thanking him for his dedication to community empowerment and transformation.”
Caban says he will spend time with his wife of 44 years, Maria, his two sons and two grandchildren.
