The mentoring organization, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee, has a program called Amachi, which organizes mentoring for the children of prisoners. Two bills making their way through the state legislature, HB1575 and SB1753, will provide funding for the program .

House Bill 1575, which was unanimously approved in House State and Local Government committee, will now go on to the House Finance, Ways & Means committee. It is critical that HB1575 gets through so please contact a member of the committee.

Today, Tuesday, April 24, SB1753 will come up before the Senate State and Local Government committee. Please call today to let them know you support this bill.

Contact: House Finance, Ways & Means Committee
Contact: Senate State & Local Government Committee

Help stop a vicious cycle:

• Over 30,000 children and youth under the age of 18 in this state with a parent incarcerated face a 70% likelihood of suffering the same fate without intervention. These children are unwilling participants in a violent cycle that is outside their control.
• Researchers estimate that the overall economic, social, and legal costs of just one youth entering a life of crime costs society $1.3 to $1.5 million.
• National research has shown that children with a mentor are 52% less likely to skip school, 46% less likely to begin using drugs, 27% less likely to begin using alcohol, and 33% less likely to engage in violent behavior when compared with similar at-risk youth.
• The federal government chose mentoring as its strategy to break the generational cycle of incarceration, allocating Dept. Of Health & Human Services (HHS) funds. In 2004, Tennessee received HHS funding to build a state program serving children of prisoners.

This investment to continue and expand the Tennessee Amachi Initiative will support:

• The continuing of most of the 1,200 existing matches between children of prisoners and mentors, and reach an additional 1,500 children (Annual cost of $2,000 per child).
• The ability to attract and leverage matching federal and corporate/foundation dollars to further expand the program, multiplying the number of children served. Goals: $1 million annually from continuing federal funding and $1 million annually from corporate and foundation support. An investment from the state in fact, enhances our chances of receiving another three year grant from HHS.
• This is a proven program with a three year track record of success, and the only program focused on children of incarcerated parents statewide with the infrastructure to support expansion.
• There is precedence. The State of Texas has made an $8M commitment over 3+ years to invest in Amachi Texas to serve 4,000 children of prisoners. Since state funding began, the Texas program has surpassed all of its goals. Adequate and sustainable state investment has boosted this from a small program to a rapidly growing initiative that is changing the fortunes of many of its most at-risk citizens.

This post was written by Mary Mancini