31 December 2008
Another Clue on Hispanic Scout Recruitment
Posted by admin under: recruitment .
So, now the news cycle is about Boy Scouts of America and what we’re doing to recruit Hispanics. Here’s another clue as to why some of those efforts may not be doing so well from James Burger in Bakersfield.
John Wagner, interim district director for the Southern Sierra Council, said Kern County’s large Hispanic population demands that his organization reach beyond its roots and establish programs that appeal to the Hispanic community.
“In the past, people have seen us as working with white middle-class kids,” he said.
The local chapter of the Boy Scouts has 25 board members. Only three are Hispanic, Wagner said.
Of the 5,600 members of Scout troops across the chapter, only around 10 percent identified themselves as Hispanic on their membership questionnaire, though Wagner said he believes about 20 percent of the membership is Hispanic.
But even that number is not a reflection of the demographics of this part of California, he said. Much of the problem with recruiting Hispanics is perception.
“Scouting in the United States is sometimes misunderstood,” Wagner said. “Some of the immigrant families that are coming into the country may not understand what scouting is trying to do.”
In South and Central America, scouting organizations are for the children of the military and government elite.
But even though the Boy Scouts of America is more egalitarian, Wagner said, the organization still bears the stereotype of being for white middle-class boys.
Scouting can’t afford for that stereotype to be true, Wagner said.
“We would be remiss if we didn’t include the Hispanic population in our plans,” he said.
In 2009, the Boy Scouts will kick off pilot programs in six heavily Latino cities, from Fresno to Orlando, Fla., to test ways of introducing scouting to immigrant parents.
So far, the Southern Sierra Council is not one of those pilot locations.
The national group is planning radio and television spots, hiring bicultural, Spanish-speaking staffers, partnering with churches that serve Hispanics and shaping programs to fit the family-oriented community.
“We’re serious about this,” said Rob Mazzuca, chief scout executive. “This is a reinventing of the Boy Scouts of America.”
I’m annoyed at the racism intimation, but the point that was new to me, if it’s true, is that in Latin countries Boy Scouts are only for the kids of the important and elite. My neighbor is from El Salvador and he was in the Boy Scouts, but he was dirt poor so I’m not sure if this accusation is accurate. I don’t know a lot of Hispanic immigrants who have any knowledge of Boy Scouts in their original countries so it’s hard to figure out, but I’d like to know if this perception is widely held in the Hispanic community. It might be another clue as to why Scouting isn’t being embraced as easily as it should.
I’m not too comfortable with that last line “This is a reinventing of the Boy Scouts of America.” I don’t know what needs to be reinvented. As far as I can tell, it just needs to be sold better. We’ll see.
- Intimations of Boy Scouts Changes
- More Hispanic Push in Florida
- Racist Criticism of Boy Scouts of America
- Latino Boy Scout Recruiting a Hard Sell
- Don’t Fear the Scouter
One Comment so far...
Roy Scribner Says:
6 January 2009 at 11:26 am.
That’s interesting, because it sure seems like there is a strong family camping tradition in the Hispanic community – at least here in NorCal.
