On October 16, BSA President William F. "Rick" Cronk convened a historic meeting at the Dallas/Fort Worth Marriott near the national office—a summit on Latino Scouting. Alberto A. "Beto" Muñoz, II, former Southern Region president and chairman of the national Scoutreach Committee, chaired the meeting, which was attended by Chief Scout Executive Roy L. Williams and a distinguished group of 30 volunteer and professional Scouters.
The summit's purpose was to unveil the exciting results of our Marketing Ethnicity Study relating to our nation's growing Latino community, and closely look at its relevance to our 2006-2010 National Strategic Plan, "2010: When Tradition Meets Tomorrow". Muñoz began by pointing to the latest U.S. Census figure of 42.7 million Latinos in the United States, and spotlighted several councils from each region having innovative Scouting programs for Latino youth.
Following Beto's opening remarks, Cronk shared with the group that in his home state of California, almost half of all school-aged students are Latino. As BSA president, Cronk's vision is to expand outreach efforts to more urban and rural young people through recruiting more families and children into Scouting.
Pat Wellen, director of the BSA Research Service, focused on the highlights of the August 2006 Marketing Ethnicity Study. Among the many study results, Wellen pointed out that family plays a significant role in the lives of most American Latinos, and its emphasis in all Scouting programs is paramount.
Carlos Alcazar, president of Hispanic Communications Network, a media firm based in Washington, D.C., facilitated the discussion during the second half of the summit. Tico Perez, Southern Region president, identified the ideals of faith, family, and freedom as important marketing components for successful Scouting in Latino communities. Chris Boswell, national Scoutreach Committee member, asserted that bilingual/bicultural youth-serving executives first need to be in place in order to most effectively deliver the Scouting program to Latino families. Ponce Duran, Scout executive of the Circle Ten Council, shared that a healthy balance between Latino volunteers and professionals is important in measuring the success of Latino Scouting programs.
A follow-up meeting will take place in February 2007. For details, contact the Scoutreach Division at 972-580-2449.
The Merits of Marketing (marketing.scouting.org) is a resource for local
councils, developed by the Marketing &
Communications Division of the National Council, Boy Scouts of
America.