Clemente Course Boston Clemente Class of 2007 The Clemente Course in the Humanities provides tuition-free, college-level instruction, for college credit, to economically and educationally disadvantaged individuals aged 17 and older. The course is based on the premise that the insights and skills offered by study of the traditional humanities disciplines can provide people with crucial tools for gaining control over their lives. Course participants receive 110 hours of instruction in five humanistic disciplines: literature, art history, moral philosophy, American history, and writing. Instructors are experienced college-level teachers. Classes meet twice a week for eight months at a community host site, and students receive free books, carfare, and childcare. Bard College, which oversees the program, grants a certificate of achievement to all students who finish the course and six college credits to those who complete it at a high level of academic performance. In Massachusetts, the Clemente Course is currently offered in three parts of the state. Holyoke through a partnership between the Care Center, a nonprofit multi-service agency serving pregnant and parenting teens, and the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities (MFH). Dorchester through a partnership between the Codman Square Health Center and the MFH. New Bedford through a partnership between PACE, Inc., UMass Dartmouth and the MFH. The writer Earl Shorris, who conceived and developed the course, explained its core concept in a recent interview in Mass Humanities, the MFH newsletter: "The humanities provide the most practical education. The humanities teach us to think reflectively, to begin, to deal with the new as it occurs to us, to dare. If the multi-generational poor are to make the leap out of poverty, it will require a new kind of thinking—reflection." Adds Karen Chapdelaine, a Care Center Clemente Course student, "This course is the best four hours of my week. It's taken the edge off my fear of college. It's a bridge from 'had I only' to 'I can.'" For more information about the program, contact Kristin O'Connell. To make a donation to support this program, you may give online or contact John Sieracki for more information. The generosity of the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, Boston Private Bank & Trust, Citizens Bank, The Irene E. & George A. Davis Foundation, Harvard Pilgram Health Care Foundation, King's Chapel House, UMass Dartmouth, and numerous generous individuals make it possible for the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities to offer the Clemente Course in Holyoke, Dorchester and New Bedford. For information about contributing to the Clemente Course, contact Kristin O'Connell, Assistant Director, 66 Bridge Street, Northampton, MA 01060 (413) 584-8440. Related articles: A Double Take on Clemente (Spring 2008) Massachusetts Clemente Course Graduates 40 (Fall 2007) Clemente Graduates Speak for the Humanities and for Themselves (Fall 2002) Holyoke Clemente Course Holds Graduation (Fall 2001) The Humanities in Holyoke: The Clemente Course at The Care Center (Spring 2000) Social Transformation through the Humanities: An Interview with Earl Shorris (Spring 2000)

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