Boy Scouts Targeting the Latino Community to Ensure the Organization’s Relevance in the Futu

Original Article 

As part of their effort to increase their Latino numbers, the Boy Scouts has launched a million dollar pilot program to target boys and adults in six U.S. areas. Currently only three of every 100 Scouts are Latino.

The campaign approach will be to get Latino parents to see Scouting as “something that aligns with their hopes and dreams for their kids." and will involved radio commercials, public service announcements and messages on such social networking websites as Facebook.

Additional campaign measures include:

  • Hiring more Latino staff to mirror the community they want to serve and facilitate recruitment efforts. The Boy Scouts have set a goal for doing recruiting bilingual and bicultural professionals by its 304 local councils across the U.S. Currently less than 10% are bilingual and bicultural.
  • Providing access to more Spanish materials, including the Cub Scouts’ Wolf Handbook
  • Recruiting high-profile Latinos to server on local boards
  • Creating a Scouting and Soccer program to connect Scouting to the already very popular sport in the Latino community

Some Latinos “see such groups as an indulgence of the well-to-do in their home countries” and are uncomfortable with the official looking uniforms and complex applications that require social security numbers.

John Richers, the director of Fresno's Boy Scout council, says "It can't be all Norman Rockwell Caucasian guys like me," and hopes that “Scouting tomorrow looks more like Marcos Nava than John Richers. He adds that “We have to make sure we still have relevance in the new America, if you will."

"The vast majority can honestly say their grandfathers, fathers and uncles were not in Scouting as youths," says a fact sheet from the Scouts' marketing division. "This is an unfortunate reality when one takes into account that Hispanic Americans/Latinos are among the most 'brand loyal' consumers in this country."

Read full article in the Los Angeles Times