Wilson W. Goode, former mayor of Philadelphia, works to atone for his sins.

I wish him well...

Philly.com: In a new career, Goode finds real purpose

There's a big surprise for you, kiddies. Philly Machine politics is not a real purpose for one's life.

Former Mayor W. Wilson Goode is up for a national prize for his work with an organization that trains mentors for the children of inmates.

W. Wilson Goode Sr., the former Philadelphia mayor, says he has never been more energized by, more satisfied with, or more committed to his work than right now, at age 68.

"This is the happiest, most joyful point of my life," he said. "I've had some historic moments in my life. None of them compares to the joy I receive from the work I now do."

Goode is the director of Amachi, a 7-year-old nonprofit organization dedicated to mentoring children of prisoners to keep them from following their parents to jail.

Amachi helps train volunteers, recruited from churches, to meet weekly with these vulnerable children, to provide them with love, guidance, support, and a path leading someplace other than behind bars.

Because of his work, Goode is one of 15 finalists for a new award, known as the Purpose Prize, to be given to Americans over 60 who have reinvented themselves in what are traditionally retirement years and who have dedicated themselves to solving America's problems in innovative ways.

If named one of five winners in September, Goode will receive $100,000, which he said he would pour back into his efforts to mentor children.

"I had success as mayor," said Goode, "but what I have now is significance in this point of my life. I achieved many successful things as mayor. But beyond success is a state in life, finding real purpose beyond any titles, and getting real, true meaning out of what you're doing. That's my definition of significance."

Goode was elected the city's first black mayor in 1983 and served eight years, including on May 13, 1985, when police dropped a bomb on a house inhabited by the radical group MOVE, leading to the deaths of 11 people. In 1996, Goode entered the Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary and earned a doctorate of ministry in May 2000.

That is what made him famous. (Getting those people killed, not being a baptist.)

The idea behind Amachi - getting church members to tutor children of inmates in their communities - was conceived by John DiIulio, a University of Pennsylvania professor who was the first head of faith-based initiatives for President Bush.

Goode was the man who got the program going. He discovered that the best way, the only way, to reach some of the two million children with at least one parent in jail or prison was to go to prisons and ask the inmates, in particular mothers, about their children.

"It was the compelling nature of these children who, without somebody mentoring them, would wind up in jail themselves that caused congregations to get involved," he said.

Bush visited Amachi twice in Philadelphia and then asked Congress to fund mentoring efforts nationwide. In his 2003 State of the Union address, Bush proposed $150 million to bring mentors to 100,000 children.

Goode decided Amachi's role would be to train volunteers. He works 80-hour weeks now, happily, traveling the country, raising money and awareness for his work, and helping organizations train volunteers.

Goode was one of 1,200 nominees for the new Purpose Prize, being given out by Civic Ventures, a national nonprofit organization devoted to changing how Americans view an aging society and redefining these later decades of life as a time of social and individual renewal.

"Most fundamentally," said Civic Ventures president Marc Freedman, "the prize grew out of years of interviewing and encountering people like Wilson Goode, who were defying the notion of retirement to stop being productive, but zeroing in and doing what they considered their most important work.

"They were also defying," he said, "the stereotype that older people weren't innovators, particularly in the social sector."

Goode is the only finalist from the Philadelphia area.

The winners of the annual prize will receive $100,000 and be eligible to compete for an additional $400,000. The fund is underwritten by the Templeton Foundation and the Atlantic Philanthropies.

Winners will be chosen by a jury that includes Sidney Poitier, former presidential adviser David Gergen, journalist Cokie Roberts, author Gloria Steinem, former Pennsylvania Sen. Harris Wofford, and retired Gen. Eric K. Shinseki.

Boy, oh boy. Talk about your Blue Ribbon panels...

Goode says he hoped being a finalist would shine a light on his organization, helping him raise awareness and support.


Other finalists include:

Conchy Bretos, 61 (Miami): Bringing assisted-living services to public housing.

Robert Chambers, 61 (Lebanon, N.H.): Providing low-interest car loans to the rural poor.

Charles Dey, 75 (Old Lyme, Conn.): Integrating disabled teenagers into the work world.

Bernard Flynn, 71 (Sacramento, Calif.): Restoring river ecosystems for flood control and habitat preservation.

Marilyn Gaston, 67, and Gayle Porter, 60 (Bethesda, Md.): Empowering midlife African American women to improve their health.

Benjamin Hooks, 81 (Memphis, Tenn.): Preventing childhood exposure to lead poisoning.

Dagney Jochem, 64 (Raleigh, N.C.): Bringing HIV/AIDS education, prevention and care to rural minorities.

For a complete list, go to http://www.purposeprize.org/