The Boy Scouts of America officially becomes Scouting America this Saturday as it marks its 115th birthday, kicking off a celebration of the youth organization that has seen an uptick in membership as it emerges from bankruptcy and remains dedicated to a focus on inclusivity that inspired the rebrand.
“Our commitment is to first of all welcome anyone who wants to be in our program,” said Roger Krone, the president and CEO of Scouting America.
The rebrand announced last year is among momentous shifts the tradition-steeped organization has seen over the last decade, including allowing gay youth and girls into all of its programs. And it’s moving forward after filing for bankruptcy amid a flood of claims from tens of thousands of people — mainly men — who said they were abused as children in scouting.
The rebranding has allowed for a reset, said Krone, who said that while there were those who were displeased with the name change, the response he’s seen has been overwhelmingly positive, and generated interest in their programs.
“The fact that we were going with a more kind of gender-neutral name, a lot of people kind of wanted to know more about it,” Krone said.
To mark the birthday of the organization founded in 1910, sites across the U.S. will be illuminated in red, white and blue, including Niagara Falls and the Empire State Building, scouts are being encouraged to share their favorite scouting moments on the organization’s social media accounts and the redesigned flag with the name Scouting America will be raised over its headquarters in Irving, Texas.
“We think it reflects who we are, who we serve, and the markets that we want to serve in the future,” Krone said.
After seeing a high point over the last decade of over 2 million youth members in 2018, the organization, like others, saw participation numbers plummet during the pandemic. Last year, the organization had a total membership of about 1,031,000, a 1.56% increase from a total of about 1,015,000 youth in 2023. Within those numbers, Krone said, is an increase of almost 3% in Cub Scouting. Membership peaked in 1972 at almost 5 million.
“The first full year out of bankruptcy, we’re thrilled that they’re up,” Krone said. “We want them to be up a lot more.”
The organization began allowing gay youth in 2013 and ended a blanket ban on gay adult leaders in 2015. In 2017, it made the historic announcement that girls would be accepted as Cub Scouts as of 2018 and into the flagship Boy Scout program — renamed Scouts BSA — in 2019.
“We had a history going back: Do we let these people in? These people not,” he said. “Where we are today: We let any person in who wants to join.”
Boy Scouts of America filed for bankruptcy in 2020 and it’s $2.4 billion reorganization plan took effect in 2023, allowing it to keep operating while compensating the sexual abuse survivors. Over 82,000 people filed sexual abuse claims during the bankruptcy case, and of those, over 64,000 filled out a detailed questionnaire to assert their claims.
To fund the survivors’ settlement trust, which has already started making payouts, campgrounds and other properties have been sold, in addition works of art that belonged to the organization, including paintings by Norman Rockwell depicting idyllic scenes featuring Boy Scouts.
Krone said that they are working to make all of their materials are digital, a platform that will also allow them to make the programs multilingual. That, for instance, could help a parent who doesn’t speak English follow along with their scout.
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