From Self-Doubt to City Hall: Alumni Spotlight on Amy Howard, Port Townsend
Amy Howard on how Clemente changed her life and her community.
When Amy Howard first heard about The Clemente Course in the Humanities, she said no. Then she said no again. She thought she had “broken her brain,” that college-level humanities coursework simply wasn’t for her.
“I didn't think that I was going to be able to do it,” Amy recalls. “I didn't have the capacity to think about thinking like that at that point.” After months of gentle encouragement, Amy finally agreed to join.
Twenty years later, when asked what people should know about the Clemente Course, Amy doesn't hesitate: “I think the most important word is
community.”
“When you live in poverty, when you don’t have access to a lot of these resources, it can be harder to build community. It can be harder to connect to people,” Amy explains. “Coming into the course, there’s a bunch of people you don't know sitting around a table. And then you start engaging, you start learning together, you start discussing concepts, not just things, but concepts. And you build this lifelong community. These are people that I engage with 20 years later.”
That sense of community started from day one, with an approach to learning Amy had never experienced before.
“It’s a level playing field when you come into that room, and all of the instructors that I had helped make sure that they were on that level, too,” Amy emphasizes. “They weren’t holding themselves up as higher, they weren’t like,
Well, I know things and you don’t. It was,
Let’s explore that together.”
Amy recalls how her
Clemente Course in Port Townsend, Washington, created community through shared meals and discussions. “When I first started the program, I knew where a solid meal was coming from. I knew I was going to eat at that time, at that course. And the way that my classmates showed up made me want to show up better, which I think made them want to show up better, so it became this cyclical thing.”
Building Community, From Classroom to City Hall
Today, Amy Howard is the mayor of Port Townsend, serving her third term on the city council and sitting on the board of directors for the Association of Washington Cities. And she sees a clear through-line in her story.
“The theme all the way through… through the Clemente course, through City Council, through to the mayor position, is building community,” Amy reflects. “Is figuring out how we work together, knowing we are all weird humans. Let’s look at that and use it as an asset.”
When community members first approached her about running for city council, imposter syndrome struck again. “I was a young, working class, previously homeless woman,” Amy explains. But then she realized: “Maybe I do have a voice that is different and deserves a seat at the table...I don't need to be ashamed of the fact that I have something different to offer.” Apparently, about 76% of her community agreed.
“I would not be where I am today, quite literally, without the Clemente course.”
For Amy, the impact of Clemente extends far beyond her own life; it ripples outward through her relationships and daily interactions. “It doesn't just change my life, it changes the other lives of people that I touch as well,” she emphasizes. “The fact that I took the Clemente Course changed my husband's life, changes the tenor of our conversations, even.”
Looking Ahead
Last year, Amy joined the Clemente Alumni Council, prioritizing it even as she took on the mayor's role.
“I signed up to do this because I knew it would be joyful,” she explains. “Every meeting that I’ve had with the council, those are just absolutely fantastic people. I am fascinated by what they’re doing, and why they're doing it...I cannot wait to see where it goes.”
As mayor, Amy now visits other communities across Washington State through her work with the Association of Washington Cities. “I get to go look at all of the different fun parts of towns, and I get to ask people to show me their favorite thing about their community,” she says, bringing that same community-building spirit she first discovered at a table full of strangers in a Clemente classroom twenty years ago.
Reflecting on the broader importance and impact of the Clemente Course, Amy explains:
“The more people we have in the world that have these basic foundational humanities pieces and they are able to look at the world through those lenses, the better our world is. People are hungry for this. They want it.”
