The local council has made it a goal for years
AMARILLO, TEXAS -- Boy Scouts of America has recently ramped up the recruitment of Latino children. Some national leaders fear without the support of Hispanics, they could go out of business.
But in the Panhandle, the recruitment of Hispanics and Latinos is an issue the Golden Spread Council has been addressing for years.
Nationwide, Hispanics make up just 3 percent of the scouts.
And though the council does not keep track of those demographics locally, leaders say it is not as much of a problem.
They have found that it is not that Hispanic boys do not want to be scouts -- it is just that their parents do not understand what scouting is all about.
"Once they come into the room and they see me and they hear me speaking to them in Spanish and have all of the material translated from English to Spanish they tend to relax a little bit, get more involved and buy into the program and want their boys involved in what we're doing," said Mike Mireles, senior district executive.
The Golden Spread Council has a handful of people on staff that travel the area educating Spanish-speaking parents about the scouts.
They say once the point is across parents are eager for their boys to join.
"We are starting to make great headway with those families not only in the fact that they are allowing their children to participate, but were starting to see some of them as parents start to get involved in some of the programs that we do," said Mario Perez, field director.
But some Hispanic families still do not understand the mission and purpose of scouting.
"In Mexico, scouting is for the rich, elite kids and my jobs is to let them know that it's not. It's for any boy that walks in at a school night or a recruitment night and wants to be a part of scouting, he can be a part of scouting," said Mireles.
Mireles says that it is especially encouraging when parents are interested in helping with scouting.
Perez agreed, and added that though they make a special effort to reach out to the Spanish-speaking community, they treat all scouts the same.
"We don't have 'Hispanic scouts' and we don't have 'Asian scouts,' Perez said. "They're all scouts regardless of their language barriers or cultural barriers. They're all scouts to us so we are just doing our best to make sure that we provide scouting to all youth in the community."
The Golden Spread Council serves 42 Panhandle area counties.
For more information call 358-6500.
