In 2022, Clark University sociology professor Shelly Tenenbaum got the idea to start an educational program for formerly incarcerated individuals at her school.
At the time, 14 colleges in Mass were among the 465 higher ed institutions nationwide with some kind of university programming for those inside or recently released from prison. But all of those programs were in or near Boston. Nothing existed that would be easily accessible for students from Worcester.
About 20% of Worcester’s population lives below the poverty line, ranking sixth in the state behind New Bedford, Southbridge, Springfield, Lawrence, and Holyoke. Clark University is a shining star in the region, weighing in at number 132 out of 1,700 national universities ranked by U.S. News and World Report—and the best out of 40 in a compendium titled “Colleges That Change Lives.” However, the area where Clark is located, Main South, has “a median household income and educational attainment considerably lower than the rest of the city.”
MassInc researchers Ben Forman and Lindiwe Rennert found that such poverty leads to increased incarceration. But education can help break the cycle; in 2019, the Vera Institute, a national research and policy outfit, reported that incarcerated and formerly-incarcerated people who participated in higher ed programs “increased earnings, increased number of hours worked, and had a 48 percent decrease in recidivism” (i.e. return to crime).
Recidivism is reduced even more as one climbs the education ladder. An Emory University study found that an associate’s degree drops recidivism to 13.7%, while a bachelor’s degree reduces it to 5.6%, and a master’s degree brings it to virtually 0%.
Tenenbaum wanted to know if a program launched in one of the poorest areas of the state could help rectify inequities and keep people out of prison.
Sparking the liberal arts for returning citizens
Tenenbaum told BINJ her experience teaching behind bars sparked her passion for the project. She first taught in 2017 at MCI-Norfolk, one of the state’s largest institutions, for the Boston University Prison Education Program, which is the longest running degree-granting program of its kind in Massachusetts.
Tenenbaum said she then had her “socks knocked off” at MCI-Concord, where she taught an introduction to genocide studies course and found students with the Emerson Prison Initiative (EPI) to be notably insightful. While the MCI-Concord initiative has since been shut down, Tenenbaum still teaches for EPI in Norfolk as part of a program that provides incarcerated individuals with “a pathway” to an Emerson College bachelor of arts degree in media, literature, and culture.
On a podcast called “Challenge. Change,” Tenenbaum recently explained, “Teaching in prison is really about the transformative power of ideas, confronting very serious ethical questions, grappling with morality, debates, and different perspectives.”
In order to bring the level of conversation she experienced with prisoners to a program outside prison, Tenenbaum sought $20,000 seed money from Clark.
In 2022, she launched Liberal Arts for Returning Citizens (LARC), the first Mass program in liberal arts for formerly incarcerated students. Eighty percent of the students come from Worcester. More specifically, Tenenbaum noted, “The vast majority are from Main South, the neighborhood where Clark is located.”
The seed money covered administrative and faculty costs, free tuition, books, and an array of perks. Since students come to Clark for evening classes, often directly from work, from its onset, LARC offered them dinner before every class.
Tenenbaum’s philosophy is to remove obstacles that impede progress and offer incentives. Some comparable programs base entry requirements on rigorous testing, but LARC aims to provide as much opportunity as possible. In an email, Tenenbaum explained that to participate in courses, students must be formerly-incarcerated and have a high school diploma or have passed a high school equivalency test, i.e. a GED, or HiSET.
“Down the line, when we started to have grant money,” she said, “we began providing laptops for any student who finished one class.” For some, it was “the first computer they’ve ever owned.” She added, “When we taught a guitar class, we provided guitars.”
While LARC is not a degree-granting program, participants earn college credits that are transferable. In a LARC survey, 16 out of 16 students said they hoped to continue higher education and get a college degree. Tenenbaum wrote, “To date, 41 students have completed at least one LARC class. Many have taken two, three, and four[-plus] classes.”
Between October 2024 and June 2025, 16 students received $1,000 stipends for completing at least three classes. Courses vary, Tenenbaum said, and by 2026 LARC will have offered 27. Examples range from memoir writing, to the life and times of Frederick Douglass, to sociology of law, nutritious lessons in chemistry, and the history of Worcester, to financial literacy, fundamentals of artificial intelligence, and practical data analysis.
This year, LARC is also offering a new digital literacy certificate billed as six courses to enhance success in the digital world.
Internships that broaden post-prison horizons
LARC also works with the City of Worcester to offer local internships and business opportunities to students. One such student is Jessica Alicea.
Alicea began LARC this past spring, and said in a phone interview for this article that she was excited when representatives from Worcester’s branch of MassHire came to meet students. MassHire is a statewide organization which helps jobseekers find work and pairs businesses with those looking for employment. Alicea said one of the people who came for the event was Dr. Matilde Castiel, who was the city’s health commissioner at the time.
Alicea, a 43-year-old widow and mother of three, had been in and out of jail for a decade before she got into recovery. She said community college put her “back on the path to health,” first at Bristol Community College in New Bedford, and then Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester. In addition to LARC, she is now working toward a BA at Clark.
Alicea asked Castiel for her business card, emailed her resumé, and soon after, received a paid internship offer to work at the local office of the US Department of Health and Human Services. “I transformed all their files to electronic files in two months,” Alicea said proudly. “I help veterans get benefits, answer calls, and do a lot in the office … I’m still learning.”
Alicea’s internship was already extended once, and she is hoping to extend it again in January. She said, “I love the job because my coworkers are great and treat me like one of them. I tell my son, It’s family away from home.”
A diverse educational path, from writing to entrepreneurship
Students who participate in LARC have a variety of reasons for coming to the program. Some, like Alicea, have been in and out of jail or served short stints behind bars. Others have spent years in prison.
Alicea, Mark LeClair, Malcolm Carnes, and Nelson Mahinda joined me at Clark to discuss why they were drawn to the program.
“I am hungry for learning,” LeClair said. LeClair is a certified drug and alcohol counselor, working at a local hospital. “The first class I took here was songwriting, and then I took Introduction to Oral and Written Communication.” The variety of learning opportunities has been key for LeClair.
Malcolm Carnes, who recently began LARC, said he “is fresh out of prison.” He heard about the program from someone in the halfway house where he is living with others.
“I am doing it to better myself,” Carnes said, “and to further my education.” Through LARC, he’s come to see that writing is his passion. “Being locked up for 18 years,” he said, “I used to correspond with so many family and friends.” He is currently enrolled in Memoir Writing.
Carnes was surprised by the level of help he’s received in courses. He feels treated “just like any other student,” and appreciates having access to all the resources that Clark offers such as a writing center, library, and fitness center.
“I am never just a number,” Nelson Mahinda said about the LARC program. Mahinda has taken 10 classes so far and wants to start his own business. He’s been especially impressed with how “there is a great deal of support from the faculty, the staff, and from the other students.”
Mahinda is enrolled in a class called Venture Start-Up this semester. It introduces students to the entrepreneurial process and encourages them to design their own vision, and has forced him “to get out of my comfort zone.”
Other students have already started businesses under the mentorship of LARC faculty. One of them, Jordan Santiago, opened Tru Image Barbershop in Worcester. Another, Nate Bethancourt, launched a local business called the Health Ya’Self Juicing Company.
‘Hungry for knowledge’
All the students interviewed agreed that being part of LARC has expanded their horizons. Carnes said: “To be able to sit in a room with professors, established people in life, is something that I dreamed about.”
“LARC has helped me see the world in a way that actually makes sense. This is how you get a mortgage and this is how you don’t get a mortgage,” Mahinda said. Carnes and Alicea concurred that financial literacy training has helped them each save money, build credit, and manage their finances.
Some classes, said LeClair, have made him “hungry for knowledge.” His learning experience, he added, makes him think more about his role as a changemaker. He started a sober men’s basketball league, thinking that instead of going to a meeting, signing in, and just getting impersonal completion slips, “men could support men in a healthy manner.”
“I realize I don’t know everything,” he said of the ongoing learning experience and giving back to his community. “And there’s so much to know.”
