Pittsburgh CCC Hosts Amachi Research Project

Kristina DiDiano (program coordinator), Michael Bernarding (associate executive director), Fred Hill, and Terry Minor Spencer from Amachi Pittsburgh met with reentrants at Pittsburgh Community Corrections Center (PCCC) to discuss the organization's current research project regarding incarceration and youth on Aug. 28.

The nation's growing prison and jail population has raised serious questions about the collateral effects of incarceration on children, families and communities. Nationally, there are more than 120,000 incarcerated mothers and 1.1 million incarcerated fathers who are parents of minor children. In Pennsylvania, 181,000 children have incarcerated parents.

Amachi Pittsburgh is an organization dedicated to helping children and families overcome the challenges of parental incarceration. Amachi is spearheading a special research project in partnership with the University of Pittsburgh's Collaborative for Evaluation and Assessment Capacity (CEAC) called Amachi Pittsburgh: Understanding Incarceration and Its Effect on Youth and Families in Allegheny County. The goal of the project is to learn more about how children and families who experience parental incarceration are affected emotionally, socially, financially, and regarding children's school performance.