Children of Incarcerated Parents

More documents

Recommendations

Info

—chapter two— HOW AMACHI WORKS Amachi is a straightforward and highly focused program: through a partnership of secular and faith-based institutions, volunteers recruited from congregations mentor children of prisoners.The model was developed from research findings on the benefits of mentoring and the potential of inner-city congregations to address some of the significant challenges facing their communities—including findings about both practices that work and those that are less likely to be successful. Research on mentoring has shown that positive outcomes occur only when matches meet regularly for at least a year and that solid program infrastructure is necessary for this to occur. Strong mentoring relationships do not happen automatically.Well-planned, well-run programs—programs that carefully screen, train, monitor, and support mentors so the matches are able to develop and endure— have positive effects. However, poorly implemented mentoring programs are less likely to produce such benefits. 10 Similarly, while inner-city congregations are potentially vital sources of volunteers who can help bring about positive changes in their communities, their involvement will not happen automatically. Members of those congregations respond to the leadership of their pastors. If the leadership is passive concerning community involvement, the congregation will be passive as well. However, if the leadership is committed—if it sees the issue being addressed as meaningful and directly connected to the church’s mission, and conveys that message to the congregation—members will respond. 11 HOW AMACHI WORKS 7
THE MODEL Drawing on research on effective practices, the Amachi model was intended to engage congregations, take advantage of each partner’s strengths, and lead to large numbers of successful mentoring relationships.The model included clearly defined roles and responsibilities for the partners; a staffing configuration that supported each partner and contributed to the goals of the overall partnership; and a datacollection system for monitoring the matches and ensuring accountability. The Partners The Amachi model required an organization to implement and oversee the project. In Philadelphia, P/PV took that role. It was responsible for administrative oversight and financial management, as well as 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, and worked with the key partners to address the inevitable problems that arise during start-up of a new project.Those partners were the congregations and Big Brothers Big Sisters. The Congregations Congregations are partners in Amachi, not just sources of volunteers.The presence of Amachi in a church reflects the pastor’s and congregation’s conviction that the project is very much a part of their mission in the world. Each participating church committed to recruiting 10 volunteers from its congregation, who would meet at least one hour a week for a year with a child of a current or former prisoner. Each church was also responsible for collecting and submitting monthly data on how often those matches were meeting. Beyond that, however, congregations were expected to nurture and support the volunteers, and to step in if they were not meeting their commitment.To that end, each pastor named a Church Volunteer Coordinator (CVC), who was responsible for overseeing and coordinating Amachi within the congregation. Many of the CVCs had previously served as a volunteer youth director or in a similar role at the church.They generally checked with mentors on a weekly basis, either through regularly scheduled meetings, phone calls, or informal conversations after Sunday worship services. To help cover the financial cost of partnering with Amachi, each congregation received an annual stipend of $1,500, as well as $5,000 to support the part-time CVC position. 8 AMACHI
Page 2 and 3:
Turning the Improbable Into the Exc
Page 4 and 5:
Page 4 of 109
Page 6 and 7:
Page 6 of 109
Page 8 and 9:
6. 1 We disseminate Quarterly publi
Page 10 and 11:
Page 10 of 109
Page 12 and 13:
Page 12 of 109
Page 14 and 15:
Page 14 of 109
Page 16 and 17:
overwhelming amount of stress and c
Page 18 and 19:
incarcerated parents to foster the
Page 20 and 21:
causality, researchers have found a
Page 22 and 23:
pregnancies leading to greater divo
Page 24 and 25:
there has been a 13% decline in int
Page 26 and 27:
to 90% of all US families. Accordin
Page 28 and 29:
conciseness what 'everyone knew': t
Page 30 and 31:
had contributed to apparent lower a
Page 32 and 33:
ule of anthropology: That in all kn
Page 34 and 35:
consequence of the social bias wome
Page 36 and 37:
Sexual Violence A form of sexual vi
Page 38 and 39:
Measures of Poverty An important as
Page 40 and 41:
and have adequate shelter can make
Page 42 and 43:
statistically determine the impover
Page 44 and 45:
Policies Decision-Making Power Deci
Page 46 and 47:
to parent teacher conferences. A re
Page 48 and 49: Also notable regarding the rise in
Page 50 and 51: Interestingly, the United States is
Page 52 and 53: women entered the workforce, divorc
Page 54 and 55: of 1996, instituted work requiremen
Page 56 and 57: prevalence of chronic illness, lead
Page 58 and 59: addition, many European countries o
Page 60 and 61: Amachi is an organization that part
Page 62 and 63: IMPACT Family Counseling, Inc. ALAS
Page 64 and 65: Amachi/Big Brothers Big Sisters of
Page 66 and 67: SOUTH CAROLINA Clemson University T
Page 68 and 69: Roots. “Children of incarcerated
Page 70 and 71: demonstrate that there is a vision
Page 72 and 73: well as Harvard's Department of Soc
Page 74 and 75: In his book Still the Promised City
Page 76 and 77: When Work Disappears When Work Disa
Page 78 and 79: Notes _____________________________
Page 80 and 81: Page 80 of 109
Page 82: AMACHI: MENTORING CHILDREN OF PRISO
Page 85 and 86: Public/Private Ventures is a nation
Page 87 and 88: AMACHI
Page 89 and 90: AMACHI
Page 91 and 92: ii AMACHI
Page 93 and 94: In fact, according to a U.S. Senate
Page 95 and 96: A growing number of additional citi
Page 97: 6 AMACHI
Page 101 and 102: Each month, pastors received a repo
Page 103 and 104: 12 AMACHI
Page 105 and 106: LOCATING AND ENROLLING THE CHILDREN
Page 107 and 108: Even women whose children were not
Page 109 and 110: The first step was to deliver the m
Page 111 and 112: P/PV staff tried to contact the pas
Page 113 and 114: While Amachi would help the congreg
Page 115 and 116: Table 2: Mentor Demographics Number
Page 119 and 120: Table 3: Number and Percentage of M
Page 121 and 122: The Amachi matches included in thos
Page 123 and 124: Table 5: Number of Matches, Mentors
Page 125 and 126: changes in their lives that affecte
Page 127 and 128: BBBS Surveys Data collected by Big
Page 131 and 132: 1. A combination of four factors wa
Page 133 and 134: 4. There was leadership that was ab
Page 135 and 136: to the program’s early success. D
Page 137 and 138: was privately funded, the pastor wa
Page 139: APPENDIX: CHURCHES PARTNERING IN AM
Page 142 and 143: Page 82 of 109
Page 144 and 145: Mentoring Children of Incarcerated
Page 146 and 147: Table of Contents I. Introduction.
Page 148 and 149:
I. Introduction In his State of the
Page 150 and 151:
II. Identify Programs in Your Commu
Page 152 and 153:
III. Find the Right Partner Quality
Page 154 and 155:
• Pre-service training for all ne
Page 156 and 157:
IV. Refining the Partnership The in
Page 158 and 159:
• Interest & ability to conduct m
Page 160 and 161:
The Center for Children of Incarcer
Page 162 and 163:
Page 84 of 109
Page 164 and 165:
Ch i l d r e n o f In c a rc e r at
Page 166 and 167:
Ch i l d r e n o f In c a r c e r a
Page 168 and 169:
Page 170 and 171:
Page 172 and 173:
Page 174 and 175:
Page 176 and 177:
Page 178 and 179:
Page 180 and 181:
Page 182 and 183:
Page 86 of 109
Page 184 and 185:
Advocacy Foundation Publishers The
Page 186 and 187:
XVI for Drug-Free Communities Landm
Page 188 and 189:
Vol. VIII 2022 ComeUnity ReEngineer
Page 190 and 191:
Vol. XV 2029 Inner-Cities Revitaliz
Page 192 and 193:
The e-Advocate Monthly Review 2018
Page 194 and 195:
The e-Advocate Journal of Theologic
Page 196 and 197:
Issue Title Quarterly Vol. I 2015 I
Page 198 and 199:
The e-Advocate Juvenile Justice Rep
Page 200 and 201:
2018 - The Theological Law Firm Aca
Page 202 and 203:
Page 106 of 109
Page 204 and 205:
www.TheAdvocacyFoundation.org Page
show all

Children of Incarcerated Parents

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?