ABOUT US | HISTORY

America’s most isolated and at-risk children are the estimated 7.3 million children who have one or both parents under some form of state or federal supervision. Without effective intervention, 70 percent of these children will likely follow their parent’s path into jail or prison. The Amachi mentoring program was developed to provide them with a different path - by establishing the consistent presence of loving, caring people of faith.

Amachi mentors meet weekly with a child who has been carefully matched with them; they often live and worship in the same neighborhoods as the children. Amachi’s hope is that one-to-one mentoring by caring adults will significantly improve the life opportunities of the children. Studies have clearly demonstrated that the Big Brother Big Sister (BBBS) mentoring model has positive effects - and now through Amachi, the strengths of mentoring and congregational volunteers are brought together.

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

HISTORY

Amachi’s success in Philadelphia has sparked interest in many cities around the country, as well as at the White House and in Congress. John DiIulio, now Frederic Fox Leadership Professor of Politics, Religion and Civil Society, and Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania, had the idea for Amachi - and W. Wilson Goode, Sr., former Mayor of Philadelphia and currently President of Amachi, Inc. which was previously a program at P/PV, carried it out. The Pew Charitable Trusts supported the development and the implementation of Amachi.

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