Mentorship program I Am B.U.M.I helps girls grow

SIMONE WAHEED, a fourth-grader at Universal Institute Charter School in South Philly, has never missed an "I Am B.U.M.I." lesson.

"I come to every single class. It teaches me how to make friends and how to be a woman - well, a young lady," she said.

Simone, 9, was one of 20 girls at her school attending the I Am B.U.M.I. - for Beautiful, Unique, Magnificent Individual - mentoring program, which teaches girls, ages 5 to 18, to achieve regardless of where they live or their circumstances.

"The mission of I Am B.U.M.I. is to let girls know . . . to love themselves," said Oshunbumi Fernandez, program founder and chief executive director of Odunde 365, an initiative to provide African-American programming year round. "I believe if you know your worth, you will not settle for anything less."

I Am B.U.M.I., formerly Bumi's Angels, began as a mentoring program at the Marian Anderson Recreation Center in South Philadelphia in 1998 and now serves several hundred girls a year at the center, in schools and at the former Youth Study Center.

"I used to work for the Department of Recreation, and when I started out, I was teaching young girls modeling, self-love, hygiene and etiquette," Fernandez said.

However, as the program expanded, so did her mission.

Now, "I try to show the girls what they can be and that where they grow up . . . or circumstances, whether it's one parent or two parents, does not have to dictate where you go in life."

Girls are getting the message.

Cianie Gilliard, 11, a fifth-grader at Bluford Charter School in West Philly, said B.U.M.I. has taught her to like herself.

"It teaches you how to be yourself, how to be creative and [that] people should like you for who you are," she said.

"[Fernandez] teaches different things and brings different people here so they can tell us about their life and that we can like different things and jobs."

So far, the program has paid off.

Crystal Gary-Nelson, the principal of Bluford, said she has seen her girls blossom since the program began there in 2013.

"This program shows our students they are shining stars," she said.

B.U.M.I. alumnae include accountants, teachers and engineers, and number in the thousands. And they have nothing but good memories of the program.

"I learned confidence, social skills and mentorship [through B.U.M.I.], and that's what the program can teach other girls," said Dominique Johnson, 28, who graduated from Lincoln University with a degree in Human Services, works as a foster-parent recruiter and runs her own youth-mentoring program.

Computer engineer Shaning Washington, 34, was a teenager when she joined B.U.M.I. "I was a typical lost kid from the city trying to make her way, and I wouldn't be standing here today without I Am B.U.M.I.," she said.

After graduating from Franklin Learning Center, Washington, who volunteers with B.U.M.I., got her bachelor's degree from Penn State and is pursuing a master's in software engineering.

"From the background I come from, most young girls get lost and B.U.M.I. has taught me life skills and to further my education, for not only myself, but for our younger generation," she said. "It helped me aspire to win."

For her part, Fernandez sees B.U.M.I. as a stepping-stone for a brighter future.

"When you invest in our youth, you will see the results in the future," she said, "and I feel like you can't give up on them. . . . And I will not give up."