Earl Shorris launched his presentation to 20 potential applicants for his newly developed humanities course directed toward the poor and disenfranchised in New York City. Since this inaugural course in New York, the Clemente Course has been launched in numerous centres across the United States, Canada, Australia, and Mexico. The course is named after the Roberto Clemente Family Guidance Centre in lower Manhattan, a facility that provides counselling to poor people in their own language and in their own community. In Calgary the author is just completing his second year of the Clemente Course for the humanities where introductory university-level courses in disciplines including history, art, philosophy, literature and political science are offered to low-income, disenfranchised individuals. The goal of the programme, locally called Storefront 101, is to foster a new sense of citizenship and lifelong commitment to learning. Earl Shorris did not claim to have adult education experience either as an academic or as a practitioner. Yet, as when the author read his book, "Riches for the Poor: The Clemente Course in the Humanities," or sees first-hand the approach and impact of such a programme in Calgary, he cannot help but see both a theoretical grounding that reflects the historical and philosophical roots of adult education and the manifestation of supportive adult learning processes. This article presents a reflective review of the philosophical perspective of the programme's founder and the resulting programme through the lens of adult education's social justice roots and the tenets of supportive and effective adult learning processes.