Monday, August 3, 2015

Scouting’s Changing Narrative

The BSA has changed the membership policy. Effective July 27, 2015 gay men and women anywhere in the US can volunteer for their community by becoming a Scout Leader. This change has been an enormous struggle. Over the past 30 years we have found ourselves wrapped up in a cultural shift in country. During that time, Scouting became a smaller program on the periphery (at least compared to our heyday when we enjoyed universal appeal). There are plenty of reasons for that marginalization beyond just the membership issue and this change will, not on its own, reverse the decline. However, the exciting thing about this change is national leadership has realized that sincere action and leadership are required to stay relevant. Locally we’ve always been aware of the divisiveness of the membership policy and provided leadership to stay relevant. With this change we believe we are in a unique position to become a more vibrant force for good, based on the new national narrative.
We are now experiencing some of the most significant changes to the Scouting narrative in the past 50 years. We are pursuing these Scouting changes for the good and health of this generation. Scouting does NOT have a political agenda; it has an agenda of character development. Embedded in this newly evolving story, our character development agenda addresses the needs of girls. It addresses our American underlying racial tension. It addresses the parenting skills of a generation. It addresses a love of learning and fosters a natural curiosity. It addresses compassion, and the skills to improve your personal life. It instills responsibility.
Part of the strength of Scouting comes from the diversity of the community. Each parent brings their best skills to the group, and each child brings their greatest potential. The parents who make Scouting thrive volunteer to help “regular kids” who live in their neighborhood. They are their own children and their children's friends. Kids that generally look, behave and have the same experiences as any other group of kids across America.
For Scouting to remain relevant we need to meet the needs of young people in our community. Today if you sample 150 Scouts:
3 of those Scouts are on the autism spectrum
54 of those Scouts are from a single parent family
16 of those Scouts have attention deficit disorder
3 of those Scouts are gay
29 of those Scouts live below the poverty level
3 of those Scouts will be homeless for a period of their childhood
32 of those Scouts will suffer from depression during teenage years
1 of those Scouts lives in an abusive family situation
Scouting has always been one of the most effective character and community building programs available. Scouts learn to work together in a real world environment, and often meet and work with others from completely different socio-economic, cultural and racially diverse backgrounds. Scouting in Boston has successfully re- invigorated and is making significant efforts to make urban families a thriving part of our Scouting community. The Templeton Foundation, along with Tufts University, is helping us study the long term character and community building impact of Scouting. The study will follow Scouts from urban Boston MA, Philadelphia PA and Phoenix AZ. This three-year study will focus on our performance and ability to engage and retain youth in urban environments.



To better meet the needs of our community, our grand opening for The New England Base Camp and Camp Sayre will occur this fall. This is another unique and long anticipated project that is designed to engage more parents and create a community of families dedicated to raising a generation of young leaders capable of meeting the personal and global challenges they will encounter during their adult life. That ambitious goal begins with a simple fun afternoon in the outdoors for every family. By creating this outdoor family attraction conveniently located in the center of the Greater Boston market we will provide unique quality family time, develop an appreciation for environmental sustainability, health and the outdoors, tell the Scouting story and increase Scouting recruitment and retention.





This is the generation Scouting serves. Scouting gives the parents the additional specific community support and resources to effectively help all youth. The Scouting community works with you to help develop specific programs to help your child can be his or her best, while remaining an integral part of the larger community.
Thanks, Hope to see you at camp.

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