Curricular Alternative Spring Break at UMass is an integral part of the Honors Course, Grassroots Community Development (Anthropology 397H) . Each spring we study grassroots development, that is, the ways that communities use local knowledge and other local assets to combat poverty and political disenfranchisement. During our spring break we travel to communities in rural Virginia or Mississippi to work side by side with members of a grassroots organization. We also offer an advanced course in community
development for students who have completed the GCD course.   Known as the alumni course,  this class parallels GCD and includes a spring break project with grassroots organizations in Holyoke,  MA. During that week we live in close quarters, work hard, engage in much mutual teaching and learning, and have the opportunity to engage in meaningful collaboration with a community that is often very different from our own. GCD students claim that the experience is one of the most intense, most meaningful, and most transformative of their UMass career. The grassroots classroom is a unique experience in which students assume the majority of responsibility for their own learning and are assisted by student facilitators who have previously completed the course. Enrollment in GCD is by application only. You can learn more about GCD/ASB by following the links on this page or contacting us at the UMass Alliance for Community Transformation (UACT) office in the basement of Thompson Hall (26 Thompson - just below the 106 Thompson Lecture Hall).

Applications deadline for Spring 2010 is Tuesday, November 17, 2009.