• National Recognition

    The Clemente Course in the Humanities was awarded a National Humanities Medal by President Obama and has received  grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and other prestigious bodies.

  • Access

    Rooted in our commitment to access, tuition is always free for Clemente courses and the costs of books, childcare, and transportation are also covered.

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  • Further Education

    Courses are accredited by higher education institutions, including our  partner Bard College.  For many Clemente alumni, these college credits mark the first step toward receiving a college degree.

  • Civic Engagement

    Clemente helps students develop critical, reflective and creative skills that empower them to improve their own lives and those of their families and communities.

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The Clemente Course in the Humanities


The Clemente Course in the Humanities provides a transformative educational experience for adults facing economic hardship and adverse circumstances. Our free college humanities courses empower students to further their education and careers, become effective advocates for themselves and their families, and engage actively in the cultural and civic lives of their communities.

“The world improves when each one of us becomes better. The Odyssey Project achieves one of the kindest acts: it encourages us to look within ourselves, to seek a better world and the most important, it gives us hope to find it.”

- Luis Tafolla, Odyssey Project, Chicago,IL - A Bard College Clemente Course


More than 30 Clemente Courses are offered across the U.S. Find one in your community.

Since 2015, the Clemente Veterans' Initiative has supported those transitioning from military to civilian life.

Graduates say taking a Clemente Course was a turning point in their lives, leading them to earn degrees, advance their careers, and engage more in their communities.

The documentary, A Reckoning in Boston, began in a Clemente classroom and aired on PBS in January 2022. Learn more about the film and check out our video gallery.

About Clemente


In 1996, the Clemente Course in the Humanities graduated its first class in a ceremony attended by New York City Mayor David Dinkins. From the beginning, Clemente was a radical idea. By offering free college humanities courses to low-income adults that create a sense of agency and encourages civic engagement, Clemente founder Earl Shorris challenged traditional anti-poverty programs that operate on deficit instead of capacity models and emphasize skills training rather than intellectual engagement and self-reflection.


There are now dozens of Clemente Courses operating across the U.S. from Harlem, New York to rural Washington State.  Each is embedded in its local community in partnership with local and regional funders, key academic institutions, and social service and cultural organizations. Each is guided by a common purpose: to provide transformative educational experiences in the humanities for adults facing economic hardship and adverse circumstances.

Recent News


By Aaron Rosen 16 Feb, 2024
Calvin University launches new free humanities course inspired by Clemente
By Vive Griffith 17 Jan, 2022
New $150,000 grant supports alumni seminars
15 Aug, 2020
Mateo Gonzalez was always drawn to literature, but before enrolling in El Proyecto Odisea—the Spanish-language program of the Odyssey Project—he’d never had to chance to study it formally. His education in his birth country of Mexico and later in his adopted home of Chicago was always technical, designed to support his career as a machinist in a manufacturing setting. That changed when he heard an advertisement for Odisea on the radio. “At the time, I wasn’t doing anything extracurricular other than my job,” he said. His three children were grown and mostly on their own, leaving a peaceful and quiet house. “I was working eight hours and coming home early, so I was free to do other things. It sounded like an interesting way to spend my time.” It turned out to be much more. The class kindled his love of literature, but also his love of writing. He knew he had an imagination, but it was in an early class that he discovered how people responded to that imagination on the page. A professor asked students to write descriptively and turn their work in to her. The following week, when Mateo entered the room a few minutes after class had begun, everyone started clapping. “I thought it was some sort of punishment for arriving late,” he joked. Instead, the professor had shared his work with the class. “They said, ‘What you wrote was amazing.’ I was surprised. After that I started cultivating my writing more.”
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