Boy Scouts of America

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) is an American Scouting organization, with some presence in other countries. As of the end of 2004, the program was serving 3,145,331 youth with 1,173,064 leaders in 126,232 units. The BSA is administered mostly by committees of volunteers, but employs professionals at the higher levels of administration, and for commercial activities.

BSA uses the Scout method to instill values such as self-esteem, good citizenship, outdoors appreciation of the outdoors through a variety of outdoor activities such as camping, aquatics, and hiking. Scouts are recognized for their achievements through rank advancement and various special awards. It includes several program divisions, which serve boys ages 7 through 17 and young men and women ages 14 through 21. BSA operates locally, through volunteer-led units such as troops, packs, and crews.

Program divisions

The BSA has three main program divisions:

Cub Scouts, the largest of the three divisions, serves boys from first-grade through fifth-grade, (seven through ten years old) and their families. The Cub Scout program uses a fun and challenging system to achieve the aims of character development, citizenship training, and personal fitness. The program is divided into age based programs of Tiger Cubs, Wolf Cubs, Bear Cubs and Webelos Scouts.

Boy Scouts are the flagship program of the BSA for boys 10 through 17. The program uses a system of outdoor activities to achieve the aims of Scouting. Varsity Scouts is a modified Boy Scout program available to boys from 14–18 that adds a system of high adventure and sporting activities to appeal to the older boy, with an emphasis on team competition. The Order of the Arrow (OA) is the Boy Scout national honor society for experienced campers, based on Native American traditions, and dedicated to the ideal of cheerful service.

Venturing is the program for young men and women ages 14 through 21.Venturer Application 28-303K: Venturers registered in a crew or ship prior to their 21st birthday may continue as members after their 21st birthday until the crew or ship recharters or they reach their 22nd birthday, whichever comes first. Its purpose is to provide positive experiences to help youth mature and to prepare them to become responsible adults. It is based on a unique and dynamic relationship between youth, adult leaders, and organizations in their communities. Sea Scouts are the nautical oriented part of this division.

Ideals

The BSA is the largest youth organization in the United States; over one hundred million Americans have been members. Its educational programs for boys and young adults aim to build character, participatory citizenship, and personal fitness. This purpose is carried on primarily through outdoor activities such as camping and hiking. There is an emphasis on personal development through community service, leadership, and individual challenge. These principles are reflected in the Scout Oath, Law, Motto and Slogan.

The Scout Motto: Be Prepared.

The Scout Slogan: Do a Good Turn Daily.

The Scout Oath: On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times; to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.

The Scout Law: A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent.

The Outdoor Code: As an American, I will do my best to be clean in my outdoor manners, be careful with fire, be considerate in the outdoors, and be conservation-minded.

The Scout Sign: The upper arm is held horizontally out to the right side, and the forearm is held vertically. The palm of the hand faces forward, with the first three fingers extended and the tips of the little finger and thumb joined.

The Scout Salute: The hand is held in the same configuration as is used for the Scout Sign, with the tip of the index finger (pointer) touching the forehead or hat brim. This is a modification of the salute used by military organizations around the world.

The Scout Handshake

This is the traditional handshake done with the left hand instead of the right. Several conflicting reasons have been given for this modification:

The left hand is closer to one's heart.
A soldier must keep his right hand free to grab his weapon.
In warfare using simple weapons (practiced in the medieval period, as well as by the Ashanti people who Baden-Powell met in West Africa), a warrior carries a shield in his left hand. To shake with the left hand, he must drop his shield, indicating good faith.. . .

The BSA Scout Oath and Law have remained unchanged since they were first developed in 1910.

History

The BSA was inspired by and modeled on the Boy Scout Association, established by Robert Baden-Powell in Britain in 1907. In the early 1900s, several youth organizations were active, and many became part of the BSA.

W. D. Boyce and the Unknown Scout

W. D. Boyce was an American newspaper man and entrepreneur. According to legend, he was lost on a foggy street in London when an unknown Scout came to his aid, guiding him back to his destination. The boy then refused Boyce's tip, explaining that he was merely doing his duty as a Boy Scout. Immediately afterwards, Boyce met with Lord Robert Baden-Powell, who was the head of the Boy Scout Association at that time. Boyce returned to America, and, four months later, founded the Boy Scouts of America. This version of the legend has been printed in numerous BSA handbooks and magazines. There are several variations of this legend, such as one that claims he knew about Scouting ahead of time.

In actuality, Boyce stopped in London en route to a safari in British East Africa. It is true that an unknown Scout helped him and refused a tip. But this Scout only helped him cross a street to a hotel, did not take him to the Scout headquarters, and Boyce never met Baden-Powell. Upon Boyce's request, the unknown Scout did give him the address of the Scout headquarters, where Boyce, went on his own and picked up a information about the group. Weather reports show that London had no fog that day. Boyce returned to London after his safari and visited the Scout headquarters again and gained the use of Scouting for Boys in the development of a US Scouting program. This and other elements of the legend were largely added by James E. West in 1915 to help build up Boyce as the true founder of the BSA in order to defuse an escalating conflict between Daniel Carter Beard and Ernest Thompson Seton over who should be considered the founder of the BSA. Elements of this story, including the fog, may have been borrowed from a story concerning the Rhode Island Boy Scouts.

Scouting comes to the US

Boyce returned to the United States and with Edward S. Stewart and Stanley D. Willis, he incorporated the Boy Scouts of America on February 8, 1910 and applied for a congressional charter. The bill was tied up with a charter for the Rockefeller Foundation and Boyce withdrew it after many delays. Around this time, William Randolph Hearst, a rival newspaperman, formed the American Boy Scouts (ABS), a group that lasted through 1918. Between business and travel, Boyce did not spend much time on the new organization. Edgar M. Robinson, a senior administrator of the YMCA in New York City, learned of the new Boy Scout program and traveled to Chicago where he agreed to help Boyce organize the Boy Scouts as a national organization. Boyce pledged $1000 a month for a year to support the program– apparently only three or four payments were actually made. Robinson returned to New York to begin the search for members. After a series of meetings in early 1910, the Woodcraft Indians lead by Ernest Thompson Seton, the Boy Scouts of the United States headed by Colonel Peter Bomus and the National Scouts of America headed by Colonel William Verbeck were absorbed into the BSA. The National Highway Patrol Association Scouts headed by Colonel E. S. Cornell and the Boy Pioneers (formerly known as the Sons of Daniel Boone) headed by Daniel Carter Beard were folded. The BSA national office opened in the 28th Street YMCA in New York City on 1 June, 1910. The first managing secretary (the precursor to the Chief Scout Executive) was John Alexander, a YMCA administrator from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The National Council was formed in the fall of 1910 with Colin Livingstone as the national president, Robinson becoming the managing secretary (on a temporary leave from the YMCA) and Seton as Chief Scout. Beard, Bomus and Verbeck became the national Scout commissioners. Seton wrote A Handbook of Woodcraft, Scouting, and Life-craft, the original edition of what is now the Boy Scout Handbook. It was hastily published and shipped to potential leaders for review. Robinson wanted to return to his full time position at the YMCA, so Livingstone put out inquiries for a replacement. They hired James E. West an enterprising young lawyer known as an advocate of children's rights. West was hired on a six month temporary basis that lasted 35 years.

James West and the early days

The new BSA office on 5th Avenue opened in January of 1911 with West at the helm and the movement began to grow at a rapid pace. One of West's first tasks was to revise the British-based program outline in Seton's handbook and adapt it for American boys. West was instrumental in expanding the third part of the Scout Law:

He also pushed to add three parts to the Scout Oath: clean, brave and reverent. He then pressed article III of the constitution of the BSA, now known as the religious principle:

As the BSA grew, the concept of the local council grew as a method of administration. With the local council came the beginning of the Commissioner Service. Local commissioners formed the first councils and started the tradition of direct support to the Scoutmaster. A first-class council had a paid commissioner, and could keep 15 cents of each 25 cent registration, while second-class councils with volunteer commissioners could keep five cents. The first annual meeting was held in February 1911 at the White House. It was agreed that the President of the United States— then William Howard Taft —was to be the honorary president of the BSA, a tradition that is still followed today. Theodore Roosevelt was selected as the Chief Scout Citizen and honorary vice-president. Gifford Pinchot was selected as Chief Woodsman.

The new edition of the handbook– The Official Handbook for Boys was published. West essentially commandeered the publishing plant to get the book out on time. West pushed through a change in his title, and in November of 1911 he became the Chief Scout Executive. In February of 1912, Baden-Powell returned to the US and West accompanied him on tour. Baden-Powell remarked that the BSA needed better communications. After discussions with the Executive Board, Boyce offered to fund a magazine if it were published by his company in Chicago. Livingstone declined the offer, noting that the board wanted the magazine to be published from the New York office. Boyce withdrew from all administrative duties and returned to newspaper management. West learned of a Scouting magazine called Boys' Life and recommended it for purchase. The first cover by Norman Rockwell appeared on the Septemeber 1913 issue. In 1912, Sea Scouting became an official program, based on the British Sea Scout program.

Early controversies

The original handbook used a lot of material from Baden-Powell's handbook. The comments on loyalty to employers concerned the labor unions– the Industrial Workers of the World in Portland, Oregon protested loudly during the 1912 tour. These comments were removed from the 1911 edition and West made much of the labor positions of the rival American Boy Scouts.

Protests over the inclusion of African Americans arose early in the program. When Boyce had turned the Boy Scout corporation to the Executive Board, he had stipulated that the Boy Scouts would not discriminate on the basis of race or creed. West's position was that African Americans should be included, but that local communities should follow the same policies that they followed in the school systems. Thus, much of the American south as well as many major northern communities had segregated programs with "colored troops" until the late 1940s.

Since the BSA had early and enduring ties with the YMCA, a firmly Protestant organization, the Catholic church forbade their boys to join. The Catholics accepted the BSA in 1913, but troops would be Catholic only under Catholic adult leadership. Later that year, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints affiliated their Mutual Improvement Association with the BSA with similar restrictions.

In the years before World War I, pacifism and patriotism often came into conflict, and the BSA was sometimes in the middle. Some thought that the BSA was too militaristic, especially as characterized by their military style uniforms and discipline, while others felt that the BSA was unpatriotic in their stance against military training. In 1912, an American Boy Scout shot another boy by accident– West quickly distanced the BSA from the ABS program and any military training or discipline. He refused to allow the BSA Supply group to sell the Remington rifle endorsed by the ABS and de-emphasized the Marksmanship merit badge. The National Rifle Association lobbied the Executive Board to issue the badge. In 1914, Colonel Leonard Wood resigned from the board after a pacifistic article was published in Boys' Life that he considered to be "almost treasonable". After Theodore Roosevelt admonished West, he toned down the rhetoric and later began to issue the Marksmanship merit badge.

The original use of the fleur-de-lis as an emblem was repugnant to some pacifist organizations who thought it a symbol of war. Beard added the eagle to the symbol and associated it with the compass rose. This was another conflict between Beard and Seton, as Seton had pressed for a wolf on the Scout emblem and as the emblem of what became the Eagle Scout award.

As early as 1911, Seton had developed a prototype program he named Cub Scouts of America that was never implemented. West felt that having BSA divisions for younger boys (those under 11; the "younger boy problem") would draw away boys from the core program, which was Scout troops focused on the 11–17 year old age group; thus he opposed such a program for some time. In spite of this, unofficial programs for younger boys started around this time, under names such as Junior Troops or Cadet Corps. The BSA obtained the rights to Baden-Powell's The Wolf Cub Handbook in 1916 and used it in unofficial Wolf Cub programs starting in 1918. This lead to an issue with Beard who felt that the use of the British book was nearly disloyal to the US. West encouraged the formation of the Boy Rangers of America, a program for boys 8&nsdash;12 based on an American Indian theme. The Boy Rangers used the Scout Law and Chief Guide Emerson Brooks was a commissioner in Montclair, New Jersey. The BSA finally began some experimental Cubbing units in 1928 and in 1930 the BSA began registering the first Cubbing packs, and the Boy Rangers were absorbed.

As early as 1910, Beard and Seton had an argument over who was the founder of Scouting. Programs for boys had been advanced by Seton in 1902, Beard in 1905 and Baden-Powell in 1906. Since Baden-Powell had based parts of the program on Seton's work, Seton claimed to be the founder. By 1915, the conflicts between had escalated and in an attempt to defuse the situation, West devised the legend of the Unknown Scout that emphasized Boyce as the founder of the BSA. Seton still had Canadian citizenship, and this chafed some in the BSA, including West who often referred to him as "our alien friend". The board did not re-elect Seton as Chief Scout in 1915 and he soon stopped publishing in Boys' Life. By early 1916, Seton was officially out of the BSA program, and most of his contributions were removed from the 1916 edition of the handbook. Seton later established the Woodcraft League based on his older works and claimed he had not actually merged them into the BSA.

Boyce had argued for a program to serve boys who could not participate in a troop because of time or location, but West was against any such a program. In 1915, Boyce incorporated the Lone Scouts of America (LSA) and invested all of his newboys as members and himself as the "Chief Totem". The BSA later formed the Pioneer Scouts in 1916 as an outreach to mostly rural areas with only moderate success. In 1924, the LSA merged into the BSA and was run as the Rural Scouting Division for the next decade.

West fiercely defended the use of the term Scout and the right to market Scouting mechandise. When the American Boy Scouts re-emerged as the United States Boy Scouts (USBS), West sued and won. The USBS renamed to the American Cadets but soon folded. The Salvation Army Life-Saving Scouts folded in the 1930s. By 1930, West claimed to have stopped 435 groups from unauthorized use of Scouting. When the Girl Scouts of America started, West discouraged the program. West had earlier worked with Luther Gulick when the Camp Fire Girls were established and always considered the them to be the sister program of the BSA. When the Girl Scouts refused to give up their name in 1918, West appealed to Baden-Powell with no results. Lou Henry Hoover became the president of the Girl Scouts in 1922 and First Lady in 1929; West stopped his campaign to rename the Girl Scouts.

World War I and beyond

Boy Scouts served as crowd control at the inauguration of President Woodrow Wilson in 1913, and have served at every inauguration since in some ceremonial role. The Philadelphia Area Council started a Scout society called the Order of the Arrow in 1915 that eventually became an important part of the Boy Scout program.

Paul Sleman, Colin H. Livingstone, Ernest S. Martin and James E. West successfully lobbied Congress for a federal charter for the BSA, which President Woodrow Wilson signed on June 15, 1916. It reads:

During the war, radio transmitters were regulated, and Scouts were called to look for unauthorized units. Scouts were used as message runners, coast watchers, and were to be alert for men who had not reported for duty. Over $352 million of war bonds were sold by Scouts along with $101 million War Saving Stamps. They collected fruit pits to be processed into charcoal for gas masks and inventoried black walnut trees for use as propellers and gun stocks. The War Garden program was intended for Scouts to raise food at home, but was only moderately successful.

When Baden-Powell returned to the US in 1919, the BSA held a huge rally in Central Park, and later a rally for the return of General John J. Pershing. During the war, it was noted that troops tended to fold if the Scoutmaster was called for service. Changes in the troop structure included limiting the size to 32 scouts, the introduction of the troop committee and the senior patrol leader position. The Associate Scout, Veteran Scout and Pioneer Scout programs were introduced for Scouts with loose or no troop affiliation. Select paid commissioners in first class councils started to become the first Scout executives and an early professional development program was implemented. Theodore Roosevelt died in January 1919, Dan Beard lead a pilgrimage of Scouts to the grave in October in what became an annual event.

The BSA sent a large contingent to the 1920 World Scout Jamboree. Baden-Powell presented the Silver Wolf to West and Livingstone. West was persuaded to write the constitution and by-laws for what became the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM). As part of the world movement, the BSA adopted the left handshake and a new uniform: the high collar jacket was replaced by a shirt and neckerchief and shorts were addded as an option.

With a high concentration of troops in the New York City area, administration started to become burdonsome. In 1921, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was persuaded to head a foundation overseeing the New York borough councils. Dr. George J. Fisher, a YMCA administrator, was recruited as the Deputy Chief Scout Executive. The US was divided 12 regions and then into areas directly reportable to the National Council. Boy's Life was in financial trouble by 1923 and West took over as editor. James J. Storrow replaced Colin Livingstone as president in 1925 and William Hillcourt, later known as "Green Bar Bill" began his association with the BSA. After Storrow died in 1926, Milton A. McRae became the president briefly, followed by Walter W. Head. The Silver Buffalo Award was created in 1926: the first awards were to Baden-Powell, the Unknown Scout (presented as a statue at Gilwell Park), W. D. Boyce, Livingstone, Storrow (posthumously) Beard, Seton and Robinson.

The Rural Scouting program was expanded with the Railroad Scouting program in 1926. The BSA began expanding the Negro Scouting program: by 1927 thirty-two communities in the south had "colored troops", with twenty-six troops in Louisville, Kentucky. The junior assistant Scoutmaster position was created in 1926 and Eagle Palms were added in 1927. Boys' Life promoted a photo safari to Africa for three Scouts in 1928. Later in 1928, a trip to the Antarctic with Commander Byrd was promoted and Eagle Scout Paul Siple was selected for the expedition. Hillcourt wrote the first Patrol Leader Handbook, published in 1929. The Silver Wolf was presented to Beard and Mortimer L. Schiff. Membership registration and fees for volunteers began in 1929. By the end of the decade the BSA had a membership of 842,540.

The Depression

Mortimer Schiff was elected as president in 1931, but died after serving one month and Walter Head returned until 1946. Schiff's mother purchased and donated 400 acres of land in New Jersey and donated it to the BSA, thus creating Mortimer L. Schiff Scout Reservation. President Roosevelt encouraged Scouts to do their part during the During the Great Depression. Scouts responded by providing services to assist relief agencies and Scout leaders provided training for the Civilian Conservation Corps. The Senior Scout program within the troop Rovering program for older Scouts was introduced in 1933, but was not promoted and was discontinued in 1947.

In 1937, oil magnate Waite Phillips donated to the BSA a large tract of land in the Rocky Mountains of New Mexico that became the Philmont Scout Ranch.

Rival organizations

The BSA had many rival organizations in its early days, including:

Growth

Also in 1916, Baden-Powell organized Wolf Cubs in Britain, for boys too young for the Boy Scouts (minimum age twelve at the time). In BSA, Wolf Cubs became Cub Scouts. In 1930, Cub Scouting became an official program for boys aged 8 to 11. Cub Scouting is a year-round family program in which parents, leaders, and organizations work together to achieve the goals of character development, citizenship training, and physical and mental fitness. Cub Scouting was expanded in the 1980s to include first graders. Cub Scouting is the largest of the BSA's three programs, accounting for more than half of the youth membership of the Boy Scouts of America.

In 1919 Baden-Powell began a training program called Wood Badge for adult leaders in Scouting. The BSA would not fully implement this training until 1948. It was instituted all over the world and is still in use today. The Wood Badge is for leaders what the eagle rank is for the scouts- The highest national leader training a leader can receive.

American composer Irving Berlin assigned the royalties from his song "God Bless America" to the BSA, earning millions for the organization over the ensuing decades.

National Council

The National Council of the BSA is registered as a non-profit private corporation and is funded from private donations, membership dues, corporate sponsors, and special events. The National Council is led by the National Executive Board, a volunteer board of directors that is directed by the national president. Paid professional Scouters perform the administrative tasks of the organization as directed by the Chief Scout Executive— a position currently held by Roy Williams. The National Council develops programs, sets standards for training, provides for leadership selection, sets uniform policies, maintains registration records, develops supporting literature, establishes advancement standards.. The National Office is currently located in Irving, Texas. Sea Scouts use the term fleet instead of National Council of the BSA.

BSA publishes two magazines: Scouting is targeted towards adult leaders while Boys' Life is for the youth. Boys' Life is published in two editions; one for Boy Scouts and one for Cub Scouts. The Boy Scout edition contains a certain amount of material targeted toward boys aged 11-18, while the Cub Scout edition contains material targeted toward boys aged 6-10. If subscription is obtained through registration in the Boy Scouts of America program, the publisher will select the appropriate edition based on the boy's status as a Boy Scout or Cub Scout.

Divisions

There are several divisions that provide support and service to the main Scouting program:

The ScoutReach Division emphasizes service to rural and urban areas, and includes the American Indian Scouting Association and the Scouting - Vale La Pena program for Hispanic youth. The High Adventure Division administers Philmont Scout Ranch, Northern Tier National High Adventure Bases and Florida National High Adventure Sea Base. Jamboree Division provides support for the world and national jamborees. The International Division is responsible for relations with other Scout and Guide organizations. It includes the Interamerican Scout Foundation and Direct Service. The Relationships Division is responsible for non-Scouting relations outside the BSA, including the AFL-CIO, Elks, VFW and all religious associations and awards. Supply Division is responsible for uniforms and apparel, insignia, literature and equipment. It includes the National Supply Group that sells equipment through Scout Shops, authorized resellers and the online ScoutStuff.org.

The Marketing and Communications Division, Finance Support Division, Human Resources Administration Division, Professional Development Division, Compensation and Benifits Division and Information Services Division provide internal administrative service and support.

Finance

In 2004, BSA ranked as the 12th-largest non-profit organization in the US, with total revenues of $771 million.

The American Institute of Philanthropy lists the Chief Scout Executive as having the fourth-highest compensation of any nonprofit chief in the United States, at a total of $913,022. However, when measured relative to the BSA's entire budget, the Chief Scout Executive's pay measures at 0.26% of total expenses, whereas the national average among charities stands at 0.34%. The Chief Scout Executive was honored in August 2005 as one of the top fifty most effective non-profit leaders by Non-Profit Times. High-level BSA executives' pay is in line with similar non-profit corporations.

By comparison, the Chief Executive Officer of the similar Girl Scouts of the USA earns 0.39% of total expenses; however, the American Institute of Philanthropy does not rank this as one of the top 20 compensation packages.

National Scouting Museum

The National Scouting Museum was founded in 1959 in New Brunswick, New Jersey. In 1986, it was moved to Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky and moved to its present location in Irving, Texas in 2002. The museum floor is 53,000 ft² (5,000 m2) and is a state-of-the-art facility, featuring several Norman Rockwell paintings, high adventure sections, hands-on learning experiences, interactive exhibits, and a historical collection tracing uniforms, themes, and documents from the beginning of the American Scouting movement. Among the museum's artifacts are the Eagle Scout medal of Arthur Rose Eldred, the first Eagle Scout.

Organization

Regions and areas

The BSA is divided into four regions (Western, Central, Southern and Northeast). Each region is subdivided into areas, about six per region. These are then divided into local councils, the BSA's main administrative districts (as of 2006, a total of 304). Sea Scouts refer to a region as a flotilla and the area as a task force. Councils are subdivided into districts, which in turn directly deal with BSA's units.

Local councils

Main category: Boy Scouts of America Local Councils

Areas are divided into local councils; referred to as squadrons by Sea Scouts. A council's chief officer is the Scout executive (sometimes called the council executive), a paid employee, who administers a staff of professional Scouters (typically district executives). The council president, a volunteer, serves as the chairman of a volunteer board of directors. Finally the council commissioner, also a volunteer, coordinates the efforts of trained volunteers who provide direct service to the units. These three officials together are known as the "Key 3."

The vast bulk of councils of the Boy Scouts of America have gone through thousands of name changes, merges, splits and re-creations since the necessity for the concept in the 1910s.

The BSA maintains two councils for Scouts who live overseas, largely on military bases in Europe and Asia. The Transatlantic Council, headquartered in Germany, serves US Scouts in much of Europe, and the Far East Council, headquartered in Japan, serves several nations in the western Pacific. Additionally, the Direct Service branch makes the Scouting program available to US citizens and their dependents living in countries outside these jurisdictions or in isolated areas. The Aloha Council services the American territories of American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Marianas Islands and also provides Scouting to the sovereign countries of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Palau.

Units

The unit is the main program group of the BSA. Cub Scouts are organized as packs, Boy Scouts as troops, Varsity Scouts as teams, Venturers as crews and Sea Scouts as ships. Each unit is sponsored by a community organization such as a business, service organization, school, labor group or religious institution. The chartering organization is responsible for selecting leadership, providing a meeting place and promoting a good program. The chartered organization representative is the liaison between the unit, the chartered organization, and the BSA.

The unit is lead by a registered and trained leader (Cubmaster, Scoutmaster, Coach, Advisor or Skipper) with one or more assistants. The unit committee is a group of adults, led by the committee chairman, who plan the unit program and activities and manage record keeping, finance, leadership recruitment and registration.

See also:

Good Turns

In 1912, Scouts began the first of a series of Good Turns that included the promotion of a safe and sane Fourth of July. During the 50th anniverssary of the Battle of Gettysburg Scouts provided service to the veterans. Scouts rendered aid during the 1921 floods in Pueblo, Colorado and San Antonio, Texas. President Roosevelt delivered a radio address in 1934 appealing for assitance for the distressed and needy: Scouts responded by collecting almost two millions items of clothing, household furnishings, foodstuffs, and supplies.

The National Conservation Good Turn in 1954 saw Scouts distribute 3.6 million conservation posters, 6.2 million trees, build and place 55,000 bird-nesting boxes, and arrange 41,000 conservation displays. During the height of the Cold War in 1958, the BSA delivered 40 million Civil Defense emergency handbooks and distributed 50,000 posters.

1986 saw the Donor Awareness Good Turn: 600,000 youth members distribute 14 million brochures to families, informing them of the needs for organ donations. In 1997, the President of the United States called for an increase in voluteer service in the US. The BSA developed the Service to America program with a commitment to provide 200 million hours of service by youth members by the end of the year 2000. As part of Service to America, the BSA provided service projects in conjunction with the National Park Service (NPS). In October 2003, the Department of the Interior expanded the program with the creation of the Take Pride in America program, opening service to all Americans.

The BSA developed Good Turn for America in 2004 as a program to address the problems of hunger, homelessness and inadequate housing and poor health in conjuctions with the Salvation Army, American Red Cross, and Habitat for Humanity.

Advancement and recognition

Cub Scouting provides advancement opportunities throughout the program to help each Scout feel that he has accomplished something when completing an activity. Many advancements in Cub Scouting are of the "Immediate Recognition" type; that is they are designed to be given as soon as possible after the award is earned. Others are to be given ceremoniously at Pack meetings in front of all the Scouts in the unit and their parents.

Boy Scouting provides a series of surmountable obstacles and steps to overcome them through the advancement method. The Scout plans his advancement and, by participating in the troop program, progresses as he overcomes each challenge. The Scout is rewarded for each advancement, which helps him gain self-confidence. The steps in the advancement system help him grow in self-reliance and the ability to help others. The ultimate goal is to reach the rank of Eagle Scout; an award which so prestigeous that many adults continue to list it as a major accomplishment or award on their resumes or CVs, many decades afer they were initially awarded the badge. Indeed, the rank of Eagle Scout is always spoken of in the present tense, and it is not unusual, at Scout gatherings, to hear men in their 40s, 50s, 60's or even 70's, proudly proclaim: "I'm an Eagle Scout!"

Other United States Scout organizations

Other Scout organizations in the United States include:

Związek Harcerstwa Polskiego (ZHP) is a Scout organization of Polish emigrés, not connected with the Polish organization of the same name (see ZHP), and not aligned to a supranational organization.
The BSA had a Rover Scouting program for many years, but the Rovers are now virtually defunct.
The Royal Rangers are an explicitly Christian organization operated by the Assemblies of God.

Membership controversy

The BSA has controversial policies that prohibit gays from leadership positions, and atheists from participating as either youth or adult members. The BSA and its supporters argue that these policies are essential in its mission to "instill in young people lifetime values and develop in them ethical character". Critics contend that these membership restrictions amount to discrimination and bigotry.

The organization's right to set such policies has been upheld repeatedly by both state and federal courts. In 2000, the Supreme Court of the United States affirmed that the Boy Scouts of America is a private organization which can set its own membership criteria. In July 2005, the Senate voted 98 to 0 in favor of the Support Our Scouts Act, enacted in December 2005, which encourages both governmental support of the Boy Scouts in general and federal support of the National Scout jamboree.

References

External links

National BSA homepage
Scouting Magazine:
- Peterson, Robert (October 1998). The BSA's 'forgotten' founding father. Scouting Magazine.
- Peterson, Robert (January-February 2001). America's Best-Known Scouter. Scouting Magazine.
United States Rovers
Boy Scout Trail extensive collection of Scouting awards, activities, games, skits, songs, and information.
Merit Badge.com A volunteer run site listing up to date information on all the current merit badges.
U. S. Scouting Service Project, Inc. large collection of Scouting resource materials available online and assembled by volunteer Scouters without pay.
Scouting The Net contains links to thousands of Scouting related sites.
List of chartered organizations
Scouting for All Scout-initiated organization to promote diversity within Scouting
National Scouting Museum official website
Searchengine for councils and districts