Born in St. Andrew, Jamaica, Reverend Collin B. Bennett immigrated to Connecticut in 1951, where he opened a real estate and insurance company. Elected to Hartford's city council in 1965, he battled to assist low-income families in purchasing homes for eight years. A son of St. Monica's church, he became a priest in the early 1990s and went on to found St. Martin's Episcopal Mission on Cornwall Street. As vicar of St. Martin's, Father Bennett began a free nursing-assistant training program, and his most recent project was establishing the St. Martin's Outreach Training Center.