February 11, 2009 5:52 PM
- Text
Mentoring Offers Hope To At-Risk Kids
(CBS)
Last spring, the streets of North Philadelphia were calling Israel Rosario. At 16, Israel was flunking algebra, and as CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews reports, the only thing stopping him from quitting school altogether was Kenneth Taylor.
Taylor has been Israel's mentor since Israel's father went to prison.
"I want to see him grow up to be something, to do something with his life," Taylor says.
"I'm convinced that a child of incarcerated parents is the most at-risk child in our society," Dr. Wilson Goode says.
Goode is the former mayor of Philadelphia and the founder of a mentoring organization called Amachi. The organization has recruited some 30,000 adults, like Kenneth Taylor, nationwide to mentor the children of people behind bars. Goode says the number of these children is alarming: 7.3 million.
"Some researchers say that if nothing is done, that 70 percent of (those) children will end up in jail themselves," Goode adds.
But to save these kids, Goode has to find them first. So he travels the country asking prisoners to sign up their children.
"I know it works, because it worked for me," Goode tells people he meets. "You see, I'm the son of an incarcerated father."
He tells them the story of how he was mentored when his own father went to jail.
After hearing his story, almost every inmate at Riverside Correctional in Philadelphia signed up a child to be mentored.
In six years, Goode has taken Amachi to 117 cities in 47 states. It's now part of a national campaign to mentor 100,000 children of prisoners by 2010.
Israel says his mentor is "a big part" of him being able to resist the street. "If it wasn't for him, I probably would have been in a corner somewhere selling drugs, shot up or something," Israel says.
Instead, Israel has promised Taylor — and himself — that he'll stay in school. It's not a success story yet, says Taylor, but it is a hopeful one because so far, Israel is still in the game, and has Taylor there reminding him to shoot straight.
Taylor has been Israel's mentor since Israel's father went to prison.
"I want to see him grow up to be something, to do something with his life," Taylor says.
"I'm convinced that a child of incarcerated parents is the most at-risk child in our society," Dr. Wilson Goode says.
Goode is the former mayor of Philadelphia and the founder of a mentoring organization called Amachi. The organization has recruited some 30,000 adults, like Kenneth Taylor, nationwide to mentor the children of people behind bars. Goode says the number of these children is alarming: 7.3 million.
"Some researchers say that if nothing is done, that 70 percent of (those) children will end up in jail themselves," Goode adds.
But to save these kids, Goode has to find them first. So he travels the country asking prisoners to sign up their children.
"I know it works, because it worked for me," Goode tells people he meets. "You see, I'm the son of an incarcerated father."
He tells them the story of how he was mentored when his own father went to jail.
After hearing his story, almost every inmate at Riverside Correctional in Philadelphia signed up a child to be mentored.
In six years, Goode has taken Amachi to 117 cities in 47 states. It's now part of a national campaign to mentor 100,000 children of prisoners by 2010.
Israel says his mentor is "a big part" of him being able to resist the street. "If it wasn't for him, I probably would have been in a corner somewhere selling drugs, shot up or something," Israel says.
Instead, Israel has promised Taylor — and himself — that he'll stay in school. It's not a success story yet, says Taylor, but it is a hopeful one because so far, Israel is still in the game, and has Taylor there reminding him to shoot straight.
Latest Now in CBS Evening News
- Evening News Online, 02.08.12
- Female soldiers tell stories from the frontlines
- Behind winter's wild weather
- Gas prices continue to creep up
- GOP turns up heat on Obama contraceptive law
- Do Santorum wins signal fundamental change in GOP?
- Are Santorum wins good for GOP's future?
- Bloodletting underway in Syria, as rebels falter
- On the frontlines with Syrian rebels
- Combat rules don't keep women off battlefield
- Why winter is mild in the U.S., frigid in Europe
- Obama pledges $130M for Alzheimer's research
- Entire staff removed at L.A. elementary school
- Evening News Online, 02.07.12
- For rebel-held Syrian towns, constant funerals
- Fans celebrate 200 years of Charles Dickens
- Discrimination found within Air Marshal Service
Latest CBS News Headlines
on Facebook
on CBS News
- Gulf carrier Etihad posts first profit of $14M
- NRC sets vote on Georgia nuclear reactors
- India upgrades its military with China in mind
- ING Groep profit up on asset sales
on Facebook
- Calif. surfer runs fastest-growing camera company
- Mo. teen gets life in prison for murder of 9-year-old girl
- Americans getting too much sodium, but not from salty snacks
- Adele opens up about vocal cord surgery
- "Person to Person": Bon Jovi behind the scenes
on CBS News






