"The humanities have great appeal to give people a sense of self, to see the world and themselves differently in the Greek sense of reflective thinking, of autonomy. People who know the humanities become good citizens, become active, not acted upon.”
Clemente Founder, Earl Shorris, 2000
25 years ago in the spring of 1996, the Clemente Course in the Humanities graduated its first class from the Roberto Clemente Guidance Center in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Founder Earl Shorris, seeking to understand the roots of poverty in the U.S., had developed a rigorous humanities course like the ones he’d taken himself as a student at the University of Chicago. He had been inspired by interviews he’d conducted with thousands of people, and with one incarcerated woman, Veniece Walker, who told him that those struggling economically needed access to “a moral alternative to the street.” To Shorris, that moral life was embodied in the humanities. Within a year of that first course ten of Clemente’s first sixteen graduates were attending four-year colleges or going to nursing school; four with full scholarships to Bard College. The others were attending community college or working full-time. (To read more about the origins of Shorris's groundbreaking work,
click here.)
Today Clemente has more than 30 courses operating across the U.S. from rural Washington State to the large urban centers of Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Chicago. Each course is embedded in its local community in partnership with key academic institutions, social service and cultural organizations, and local and regional funders.
“Clemente came at a very low point in my life. It kept me focused on something other than my circumstances and fears. The confidence I've built and the connections I've made have allowed me to complete two fellowships and a yearlong national service to AmeriCorps. I've found employment, and I am enrolling in a bachelor’s completion program. I owe all of that to Clemente.” – Adrianna M. Class of 2006 Clemente Veterans’ Initiative, Seattle
In 2019, Clemente partnered with New York-based Metis Associates to examine the ways in which our programming impacts those it serves. In a wide-ranging study of Chicago's Clemente Course—the Odyssey Project—we confirmed what graduates have said all along: Our program helped them see themselves and the world in new ways and realize long-lasting change in their lives.
Here are some highlights from the study. You can learn more here.
EDUCATION AND LIFELONG LEARNING
Clemente’s humanities curriculum exposes students to texts and ideas that expand their views and whet their appetite for learning. Since completing Clemente:
CONFIDENCE AND PERSONAL AGENCY
Graduates name increased confidence in various areas of their lives as a key program outcome, recognizing that with confidence comes a sense of agency that enables them to make positive changes in their families and communities. Sixty-seven percent of graduates are confident about supporting themselves and their family, as opposed to 44% before Clemente. Graduates note large impacts in personal confidence, including:
FAMILY AND COMMUNITY
Many Clemente students are parents, often single heads of household, and modeling the value of education for their children is a potent motivator for enrollment.
Clemente graduates also report impressive levels of civic engagement. Seventy-six percent of graduates have volunteered with a civic, community, or environmental organization in the past 12 months, and 27% have served on a nonprofit board or community committee.
CRITICAL THINKING AND COMMUNICATION
Graduates tell us that since Clemente they are more confident testing their own judgments against others and questioning things. They also say the program had a significant impact on a variety of skills:
Ultimately, Clemente's success lies in the way our graduates bring their classroom experience into the world, whether publishing essays, running for office, facilitating book clubs in their neighborhoods, or showing up at the polls. As ambassadors and role models, they and their successes lead the program into its next 25 years.
“Clemente gave me the confidence I needed to go back to school as an adult learner and helped me model for my son that education is incredibly important—so important that you don’t let all the other things in life get in the way. Today I am a college graduate, and my son is a freshman at the University of Wisconsin-
Madison.” -Anna M., 2006 Chicago graduate
Clemente teaches altruism. Most of us, when we come in, are on the needing end of everything. We are down, have minimal resources, and feel pretty powerless. What we learn from Clemente is that we have something to give to our communities, and we want to do that. It's pretty empowering, and it changes how we see ourselves.
Paula H. Class of 2007, Port Townsend
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