Ebony Ensley pondered the wisdom of introducing two strangers into her twin sons' lives, but a year later she says the Amachi mentoring program has made a big difference for her twins, Kamaron and Keenan Taylor.

Ensley is a licensed practical nurse who has worked at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Oakland for 10 years. She's taking classes at UPMC Shadyside's School of Nursing to become a registered nurse.

The boys' father is serving a prison sentence. The faith-based Amachi program hopes that providing adult role models to children of incarcerated parents will keep the children from following in their parents' footsteps.

Founded by former Philadelphia Mayor W. Wilson Goode in September 2000, the Amachi program has spread to more than 100 cities. The Pittsburgh program started in October 2003.

Donna Riggs, a spokeswoman for the Pittsburgh program, said Goode founded the program after visiting a prison near Philadelphia and encountering a grandfather, father and son serving sentences. Prison was the first time they were all together at the same time, she said.

Figures Amachi has collected from state and federal agencies show that about 7,000 Allegheny County children have one or both parents in prison. The Pittsburgh program has so far matched about 190 kids with mentors.

The group's main problem is finding enough male mentors, Riggs said. Amachi has been working through church congregations to find both mentors and children for the program, but it is now broadening its search by contacting college alumni groups and other civic organizations, she said.

Childhood friends Damian Gilliard, 32, of Squirrel Hill, and Charles Hill, 28, of Swissvale, said they find it easy to spend time with the Taylor twins.

Their outings have included Pirates games, Major League Baseball's All-Star FanFest, a preseason game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics, the Carnegie Science Center, movies and restaurants.

"It's not just fun all the time," Gilliard said. "We try to make sure it's always a learning process. We try to incorporate the fun and the learning at the same time."

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