Urban Scouting Division
Program Description

The Urban Scouting Program was implemented in 1987, to more effectively deliver a quality Scouting program in less-chance neighborhoods of Houston. The Urban Scouting Program develops the values and character of boys ages 7 to 17. Urban Scouting addresses the six critical elements of healthy youth development. These include personal character, sense of self-worth, caring relationships with peer groups and adults, desire to learn, productive use of time and social adeptness. Simply stated, the aim of Urban Scouting is to build character, to foster citizenship and to develop fitness. The components or methods used to achieve these aims include: ideals, patrols, outdoors, advancement, personal growth, adult association, leadership development and uniform. Below are the components are the building blocks of Scouting:

IDEALS COMPONENT-The Ideals component, composed of the Scout Oath and Law, teaches a standard of positive conduct that a boy commits to upholding when he joins. By measuring his conduct against these ideals and continually improving, he learns self-worth.

PATROL COMPONENT-The Patrol component allows Scouts to interact in small groups where they learn teamwork and participating citizenship. It places responsibility on young shoulders and teaches boys to accept it.

OUTDOOR COMPONENT-The outdoors is the laboratory for Scouts to learn ecology and conservation of nature's resources. In this setting they share responsibilities for the group, learn self-reliance and learn to live with one another.

ADVANCEMENT COMPONENT-The Advancement plan teaches self-confidence by providing a series of surmountable obstacles and the means to overcome them. Each Scout plans his own advancement and progresses at his own pace.

PERSONAL GROWTH COMPONENT-An example of the Personal Growth component is the "good turn concept". Boys grow as they participate in community service projects and do good turns for others.

ADULT ASSOCIATION COMPONTENT-Boys learn from the example of the adults around them. This component allows youth to associate with adult leaders of high character and good example so critical for a young man's development.

LEADERSHIP COMPONENT - Scouting encourages a boy to learn and practice being a leader. Every Scout participates in shared and individual leadership situations that help him to accept and provide leadership.

UNIFORM COMPONENT - The Uniform allows a boy to be identified as part of a "good gang". It creates a positive youth image in the community for good thus reinforcing a boy's sense of community. In summary, the Urban Scouting program is a comprehensive values education program that meets the communities need to teach children the skills necessary to become productive adults.

Community Impact Statement
The Urban Scouting Program has made a tremendous impact on the community by delivering consistent quality-Scouting programs in some of the most difficult to serve areas of Houston. Urban Scouting provides values to At-Risk youth at an early age using the Cub Scout program and these values are reinforced as boys grow, in the Boy Scout program. Youth are taught the positive aspects of personal development and teamwork through the character development programs of the Boy Scouts. Urban Scouting will continue to offer this program of HOPE. HOPE has come in the form of 10 parents taking ownership of their sons in Scouting to form a new Venture unit. These parents have committee themselves to seeing their son progress in Scouting. They started slowly but eventually took ownership. They are a proud group and they show it by getting more in involved in other Scouting projects. Scouting works for everybody!

Problem Statement
Traditional program delivery methods that Scouting normally uses did not work in Houston at risk neighborhoods. This is due to the same conditions that create the problem and need that the Urban Scouting Program addresses. THE NEED-In Houston and surrounding areas, there are thousands of youth who are considered at-risk. These youth are susceptible to the ills of society because of their conditions and the environment. These youth usually live in high-crime and low-income areas. Drugs, gangs, crime, hunger, teen pregnancy and illiteracy are common. Furthermore, these youth usually live in single parent or no parent families. THE PROBLEM-Urban Scouting wanted desperately to address these needs. An attempt was made in the early eighties to deliver programs to these areas; but the programs failed to take hold. Why? Precisely because of the same problems affecting the youth. We could not find enough caring adults to provide the necessary consistent and stable volunteer adult leadership so needed to deliver the programs. Furthermore, parents of members did not have the financial means needed to afford the books, campout costs, uniform costs and other costs of the programs. Our answer: A full scholarship program with paid leadership. The Sam Houston Area Council, in 1987, made the strictly untraditional decision to pay for adult leaders to deliver Scouting programs. The Council further plowed thousands of dollars into a Special Assistance to Individuals budget to help offset not only the joining costs, but the ancillary costs: uniforms, campouts, transportation, books, badges, etc. As a result, the Urban Scouting program came into being. The very first year the program grew to serve 1200 youth; a phenomenal increase considering the lack of success in prior years in serving these areas'. The extra funding and paid leadership had a dramatic effect on the consistency and delivery of the Urban Scouting program. Consequently, with the means to deliver programs, in place, the program was then able to attack the problems of the need as stated above. Because of the paid leadership and other assistance, the costs to provide the Urban Scouting program are high compared to other Scouting programs. Yet, the same values are being learned that grow at-risk young people into the kind of citizens our community needs.

Target Population
Urban Scouting Programs are targeted to boys ages 7-18 in Houston’s inner city and inner city like areas. In collaboration with the City of Houston, HISD and other school district personnel, youth are identified and encouraged to join. Usually identified youth are from low-income, single or no-parent families.

Collaborative Efforts
Collaboration with various community agencies is a bedrock practice of the Urban Scouting program. The Boy Scouts of Americas original charter states: the purpose of this corporation shall be to promote, through organization and cooperation with other agencies, young men to reach their full potential as adults. This past year the program collaborated with many community institutions in providing a values education program for the youth of our community. We refer to this collaboration as our chartered partner concept. Both Urban Scouting and the chartering institution agree to perform certain functions in this collaboration. The program collaborates with schools, civic clubs, and business organizations to name a few. Under this chartering concept, local institutions use the program to deliver to their children, youth, and families the values based program of Scouting. When a community organization establishes a Scout unit they select their own adult leadership, provide a safe meeting place, and agree to maintain a good program. To support the packs and troops the Urban Scouting program agrees to provide several types of support. This includes program development and training for the leaders on how to deliver a quality program; on-going program development through our professional and volunteer staff to assure that each boy receives a quality growth experience; maintain camping and outdoor facilities and provide liability insurance for chartered partners. Advancement records are kept and the program handles other administrative duties. Annually, a member of the council professional staff meets with the head of each chartering organization to evaluate the program’s effect and how their Scouting program might be strengthened. The many-chartered partners include76 schools in Houston, North Forest, Fort Bend and Lamar Consolidated ISD, Houston Housing Authority Houston Parks and Recreation Department and other agencies. The Urban Scouting program is now partnered with the PTA at several schools. The Program collaborates with organizations such as Keep Houston Beautiful, Latin Peace Officers Association, Police Activity and the Battleship Texas. These partnerships have strengthened Scouting’s image in the community. The Upper Kirby District Association also works with the Council to assist with registration assistance, camp scholarships and uniforms. Collaboration is critical to the success of these programs.