Honoring the Amachi Program on the occasion of its 5th Anniversary and declaring April 27, 2006 as "Amachi Day" in the City of Philadelphia.

WHEREAS, “Amachi” is a Nigerian Ibo word that means “Who knows but what God has brought us through this child”; and

WHEREAS, Amachi is a unique partnership of secular and faith-based organizations working together to provide mentoring to children of incarcerated parents. Faith institutions work with human service providers and public agencies (particularly justice institutions) to identify children of prisoners and match them with caring adults; and

WHEREAS, Amachi began in Philadelphia in September 2000 with funding from Pew Charitable Trusts as a partnership between Public/Private Ventures (P/PV) and Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Southeastern Pennsylvania; and

WHEREAS, P/PV was responsible for administrative oversight and financial management of the program and for recruiting congregations and children. The organization also collected and analyzed the data used to monitor the matches and gauge the overall progress of Amachi. Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Southeastern Pennsylvania screened the volunteers and children, and made the match; and

WHEREAS, In 2002 P/PV began an Amachi Program in New York, and during the fall of 2003, P/PV began expanding the Amachi model nationwide with the help of funding from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the William Simon Foundation. The first Amachi Training Institute was conducted in December 2003; and

WHEREAS, There are 231 agencies who provide mentors for children of incarcerated parents and 108 agencies who directly implement the Amachi model nationwide; they have partnered with over 1000 churches and served approximately 17,000 children; and

WHEREAS, Studies show that children with an incarcerated parent have a 70% chance of ending up in prison themselves without this type of direct intervention; now therefore

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That the Council hereby honors the Amachi Program on the occasion of its 5th Anniversary and declares April 27, 2006 as “Amachi Day” in the City of Philadelphia; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to the Honorable Reverend Dr. W. Wilson Goode, Sr. whose leadership and direction has created a nationwide movement for mentoring children of prisoners.

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