Boy Scouts woo Hispanics

[fgoodwin 23]

Boy Scouts woo Hispanics

Group faces culture hurdle, label of 'sissy'

 

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/northphoenix/articles/0720ext-boyscout0715Z3.html

http://tinyurl.com/co9pm

 

Betty Reid

The Arizona Republic

Jul. 20, 2005 12:00 AM

 

Boy Scouts of America is courting the Latino population.

 

It's a charge that started in 2000 when the Boy Scouts of America National Council discovered they were not reaching out to America's fastest-growing minority population. But Hispanic youngsters are not coming out of the woodwork to join.

 

Phoenix scouts and leaders say the Boy Scouts have been incorrectly labeled as a club for rich or dorky kids, and it's been hard convincing many Latino kids, especially immigrants, that the group shares their values and works toward the good of boys.

 

Alex Estrella, for example, is familiar with the barriers. The 16-year-old south Phoenix resident joined the Scouts when he was in first grade and plans to continue with the program through high school.

 

Alex saw a troop he joined with 16 members fall to four. While recruiting on campuses, some students tell him they are busy with sports, while others taunt the institution.

 

"We get called 'sissies.' It's sad because they don't know what they are missing," Alex said. "I try to explain, shooting 12 gauges and rifles. If they find that sissy, then honestly, they don't know the definition of sissy."

 

Alex had the support of his grandmother and his parents, but when he could not find a ride to events, he caught the city bus. "Scouting is to bring the better out of people," said Alex, who aspires to be a psychiatrist.

 

Librada Martinez is district executive and a community liaison in the Pueblo District of the Boy Scouts Grand Canyon Council of the Valley. Pueblo, which serves central and south Phoenix, Maryvale and parts of Glendale, is heavy populated by Hispanics.

 

"I believe that if we would have a Boy Scout unit in each neighborhood, we would change the face of our community," Martinez said. "The result of Scouting is children, families and communities that are stronger and better prepared for the future."

 

Pueblo district has 70,000 students who potentially could be Boy Scouts, but currently only 1,000 are Scouts, and Martinez estimates fewer than 100 of those are Hispanic. The low count perplexes Martinez because Hispanic families want similar values to those taught by the Scouts. Scouting promotes education, faith, healthy relationships and family.

 

But immigrant families from Mexico believe Boy Scouts are for rich families. In "Latino countries these kinds of programs are for privileged kids," Martinez said.

 

Then there is the language barrier ever so present for parents or guardians of young Latinos. Many speak Spanish, and some believe they won't be able to communicate their children's needs in the Scouts, so they don't pursue it.

 

"Our main challenge is to reach Latino parents who are able to serve as leaders of our units (like) Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts. We provide training in Spanish," she said. "If they want to run a unit in Spanish, they can do it."

 

Armondo Chavez is a Scoutmaster for Troop 407, a group in west Phoenix with 18 members. They are a 48-year-old organization whose membership is diverse. Chavez's unit had a booth at the Fabulous Phoenix 4th celebration. Only 10 of about 500 people who stopped by filled out an application at Steele Indian School Park, Chavez said.

 

But even those numbers are encouraging, Chavez said.

 

"We talk to people about the program being family-oriented," Chavez said. "The other is, we tell them, it is an important program and that it nurtures their child's activity. If a parent is interested, children get motivated early on, and they can pair up with their child. The boys' interest in programs goes as far as parents' interest."

[Fuzzy Bear 12]

I hope that shooting shotguns does not become the type of advertisement necessary to encourage Hispanics to join Scouting. There are plenty of activities that help to build a young person in the right direction. I noted a few months ago that the BSA was using soccer as a method. Young white dorky kids have been a traditional part of Scouting. It has nothing to do with dorkiness though. All young people find many activities outside of Scouting to be fun and rightfully so. It just so happens that Scouting is not advertised or hyped, yet the activities could go well beyond any activity that youth find to be enjoyable no matter what race or category. Instilling and enhancing male qualities is not a trick or a method. It will happen without doing anything special. Scouting gives these activities a twist because it attempts character enhancement along with it.

FB

 

[Lynda J 10]

I an glad to see some councils targeting hispanics.

Regretfully I do not see Longhorn doing this. Though we are heavely Hispanic I lost two boys our of the pack this past year because we could not get spanish language handbooks. Our Scout Shops told us they had to be special ordered from National. I called National and was told it would be 6-12 weeks before they could get me the books. It wasn't that the boys needed them but the parents wanted them. The boys finally stopped coming. I don't understand why in councils that have a large number of Hispanic residents that they can't have two or three spanish language hand books for each level at the Scout shops.

Our council has even held recruitements in schools in the hispanic areas and not had anyone that could speak spanish. Sorry that is just dumb to me.

[SWScouter 34]

I found this interesting to read since I am acquanted with one of the people in the article and am familiar with the area. The article did bring up one of the big issues with recruiting hispanics into scouting and that is the impression that scouting is for wealthy families. This may sound strange but it really is part of the hispanic culture. One of my Woodbadge patrol members is married to a hispanic woman and he was telling us about this issue during the course. It really is perplexing and I'm not sure what the best approach is to overcome such a strong cultural perspective.

 

SWScouter

[Fuzzy Bear 12]

A few ago, we attempted to recruit blacks into our district. There was a part of our city that had a large concentration and we tried to reach out. We established a Troop but it fell after a short period of time. We had donated camping equipment and uniforms so some of the donors got upset and found a reason to quit. We then visited a congregation and the Minister appointed some of the members to be leaders. I will always remember that church service as being one of the most spiritual meetings I ever attended. It was a story all by itself. A short training period later resulted in a Pack that lasted for a few months and then folded. We made too few attempts, didn't make any real friendships, so our lack of persistence paid its' meager dividends. We stood back and told ourselves that these people didnt understand Scouting, were too different and didnt have the time or the money to be in Scouting and those were good enough reasons to quit.

 

I now believe it takes relationship building. Scouting has a kind of cultural barrier to it. It is not an intended barrier but it is there nonetheless. If you profile an avid Scouter, I think you will most likely begin to understand what I mean by a barrier. Some of it is just being lazy and some of it is not being friendly. Inviting a person to become part of your Unit and getting to know them is the first step in reducing that barrier and building trust. Hopefully, they will like something and then begin to be active to the point of becoming a leader. Later, they may even bring their friends and/or start a unit. Growing a Scouter takes time the same as growing a Scout. I think most other things are gimmicks and excuses that probably will lead to failure.

 

 

[SWScouter 34]

Here's another article from the Arizona Republic: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0726latinoscouts26.html

 

Boy Scouts' focus is on Latino recruiting

 

Betty Reid

The Arizona Republic

Jul. 26, 2005 12:00 AM

 

When it comes to recruiting Arizona's fastest growing population group, Arizona's Boy Scouts simply haven't been prepared.

 

But like good troop leaders, Boy Scouts of America officials assessed their situation and are trying to adapt with a marketing campaign aimed at beefing up Hispanic membership to better reflect the state.

 

"If you look at the demographics, if you look at how the Hispanic population is growing, as an organization we have a responsibility to offer our program to all families," said George Randall, national director of the BSA's Scoutreach. "It is the right thing to do. If you've got a growing population whose values dovetail with the values of Scouting, it's a match."

 

In Arizona, only one in 10 Boy Scouts is Latino, and leaders here, like many other Valley businesses and organizations, are pushing hard to find ways to tap into Arizona's quickly rising Latino market. However, they face some real challenges including apathy, misconceptions and, at least among immigrant Latinos, that the Boy Scouts are only for the affluent.

 

Arizona BSA leaders are especially looking to heavily Hispanic urban areas in Phoenix, Mesa and Glendale, in hopes of adding to the ranks. Nationally, the Boys Scouts have 3.1 million members; of that 7.3 percent are Hispanic, according to numbers provided by the National Council of Boy Scouts of America's Scoutreach offices in Irving, Texas.

 

In Arizona, there are 52,000 Scouts, and less than 10 percent are Hispanics, according to BSA's Grand Canyon Council. Those numbers exclude units, or troops, organized by many church groups. Larry Abbott, chief executive officer of the Grand Canyon Council, said in 2002 that not enough catered to Valley Hispanics.

 

The council added 50 units since January and is heavily recruiting in apartment facilities in low-income areas of Mesa and south Phoenix, he said. But it continues to struggle in heavily Hispanic areas such as the Pueblo District, which covers south, central and west Phoenix.

 

There are fewer than 100 Latino Scouts in the Pueblo District.

 

Alex Estrella is familiar with the challenges of troop membership. The 16-year-old from south Phoenix joined the Boy Scouts when he was in first grade and saw his troop's numbers dip from 16 to four. He said Scouting just isn't that popular among students.

 

"We get called 'sissies.' It's sad because they don't know what they are missing," Estrella said. "I try to explain shooting 12 gauges and rifles. If they find that sissy, then honestly, they don't know the definition of sissy."

 

The number of Hispanics in Scouts has dipped, especially in Maricopa County since 1993 when 900 Hispanic youngsters were recruited and about eight units started, said Frank Ramirez, now associate director of Scoutreach Division of the National Council of the BSA.

 

A self-described "pioneer" of the Valley's Scout recruitment nearly a decade ago attributes the roller-coaster ride of Hispanic numbers in the Arizona Scouts to family involvement and affordability.

 

"Among Latino families, we don't have a long history of our grandfather or uncles having been Scouts," Ramirez said. "There really isn't that hand-down tradition of a grandfather passing down a uniform to a grandson."

 

Though units continue to exist in Latino neighborhoods, there was not a concerted effort given to the leadership until now, Ramirez said. Scoutreach started in 1998 with a threefold mission to recruit adult leaders, to ensure that minority youths had an opportunity to join and to create a community-based partnership with the national office.

 

Its marketing logo is "Scouting, vale la pena," or "Scouting, it's worth the effort."

 

Scouting can incur costs with the purchase of uniforms and necessary equipment for functions like camping, hiking and other activities. Ramirez said expenses can scare off poor families and immigrants.

 

Librada Martinez, Pueblo District community liaison, believes the Boy Scouts should be a perfect match for many traditional Latino families because the Scouts promote values they hold dear such as education, faith, family and strong relationships. But Martinez concedes that there are challenges to overcome.

 

"(In) our Latino countries, these kinds of programs are for privileged kids," Martinez said.

 

Then there is the language issue. Many Latinos in the Valley are Spanish dominant and some parents believe they won't be able to communicate their needs, so they don't pursue the effort.

 

Martinez said the Pueblo District has printed brochures in Spanish and bought time on Spanish radio and TV stations.

 

Some Hispanic families don't need a heavy nudge to join. Jonathan Fierro, for example, enjoys the Scouts.

 

The 12-year-old joined as a first-grader and spent time with Pack 907 Cub Scout Unit this month at Garfield School, where he learned about maps.

 

"My parents like it because I behave better," he said. "I used to get in fights every day. Student bullies used to push me around, and I would fight. After the Scouts, I just let them talk and I turn my back."