Hispanic Initiative

With the creation of the Hispanic Initiative Division (Hispanic Initiatives) and the National Hispanic Initiative Committee, the Boy Scouts of America has demonstrated its commitment to a progressive and innovative strategy that will engage Hispanic youth and their families in Scouting. We want to interweave Hispanic culture throughout the Scouting program and make this collaboration a solid fit. With significantly increasing membership as its number one goal, the Division is focusing its efforts on seven major areas.

Membership

Our membership efforts will focus on identifying and defining current and potential Hispanic/Latino growth opportunities within BSA local councils. This involves quantifying our current Hispanic membership and comparing it to the total available Hispanic youth on a national, regional, and council level. This will allow us to determine the percentage of penetration we currently serve in each area and help us develop a measurement system to track our success. Working with the BSA' s internal Research Service and Registration Division, we will begin quantifying our current membership in order to calculate the percent of penetration by ethnic groups in each area.

Partnership

Partnership development involves identifying and establishing partnerships with Hispanic/Latino leaders, corporations, organizations, and legislators. The Hispanic community takes pride in a strong work ethic, moral values, family commitment, and religious ties. This makes it a perfect partnership for the vision and mission of the Boy Scouts of America.

Funding

The Boy Scouts of America is recognized as the nation’s foremost program of character development and values-based leadership training for youth. At the same time, Hispanics are committed to giving back to their communities and to providing educational and values-based programs opportunities to their youth. We all share a stake in helping young Latinos become tomorrow’s leaders. To reinforce this trend, allocation of funding resources from Hispanic leaders, organizations, agencies, and corporations will enhance the development and delivery of support programs and resources, and is vital to the success of our efforts.

Staff Recruitment

Executive recruitment of bilingual and bicultural professionals is key to establishing Scouting as a resource that will engage with and serve the Hispanic/Latino community. The appointment of a Hispanic recruitment specialist within the Human Resources Division of the national office is forthcoming. Additionally, the Hispanic Initiatives Division will provide recruitment support, networking, and communications that will enhance their efforts to establish BSA as an employer of choice to the Hispanic community. A thorough understanding and evaluation of current methods and processes will be the beginning of this key area of impact.

Communications and Marketing

By 2010, nearly one person out of every six in the United States will be of Hispanic origin. Hispanic purchasing power is projected to reach $1 trillion by 2010, or 9.2 percent of all U.S. buying power. The Hispanic population in the United States is expected to have increased by 118.9 percent between 1990 and 2010. Understanding the demographics of this dynamic and diverse population, pinpointing emerging opportunities in markets where the Hispanic population is increasing at especially high rates, developing a national branding and imaging campaign to introduce Scouting and its values to the Hispanic market, and establishing a communication vehicle for Hispanic serving executives to share ideas, concerns, and successes are all part of the communication efforts of the Hispanic Initiatives Division.

Training

Organizations are rapidly changing to accommodate expanding markets, increasing diverse workforce, and increasing public consciousness. While Hispanics share many common characteristics based on language, culture, and heritage, they are not a monolithic group. Understanding what makes different elements of the Hispanic community different is essential for the development and delivery of a BSA program that effectively targets this community. The Hispanic Initiatives Committee is dedicated to developing an Internal Hispanic Diversity Training program that enables us to best recruit and serve the Hispanic community

Program Development

In order to effectively serve the Hispanic community, the Hispanic Initiatives Division will identify and assess current BSA programs and materials in an effort to tailor them to the needs of the Hispanic/Latino communities and charter organizations