OSDRI partner awarded grant expansion to offer free college course for veterans

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) announced that the Clemente Course in the Humanities is among its 2019 grant recipients awarding two grants totaling $198,930 to expand work in the NEH Dialogues on the Experience of War initiative. The grant will establish a two-year Clemente Veterans’ Initiative (CVI) in Providence in which Operation Stand Down Rhode Island (OSDRI) will be a key partner.

CVI was developed in 2014 to provide meaningful intellectual community to veterans who are struggling to adapt to civilian life. Providence’s first CVI class began in January 2019 as a 12-week program, also funded by the NEH and hosted by Trinity Reparatory Company. OSDRI’s Employment & Training Team has partnered with CVI to raise awareness and provide direction within the veteran landscape.

The CVI provides OSDRI the ability to provide a free college course for veteran clientele. The course will enroll 15 to 20 veterans taught by faculty from the University of Rhode Island and University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. Veterans will study history, literature, philosophy, art history and writing/public speaking in a seminar setting.