Official Statement from Scouting America CEO, Roger Krone
IRVING, Tex. (May 7, 2024) – The Boy Scouts of America today announced that it will be changing its name to Scouting America. This change reflects the organization’s ongoing commitment to welcoming every youth in America to experience the benefits of Scouting. The name change will go into effect on February 8, 2025, the organization’s 115th birthday.
This announcement also comes as the organization celebrates the fifth anniversary of welcoming girls into Cub Scouting and Scouts BSA programs. Boy Scouts of America currently serves 176,234 girls and young women across all programs, including more than 6,000 who have earned Eagle Scout status.
“Though our name will be new, our mission remains unchanged: we are committed to teaching young people to be Prepared. For Life,” said Roger A. Krone, president and chief executive officer of the Boy Scouts of America. “This will be a simple but very important evolution as we seek to ensure that everyone feels welcome in Scouting.”
Scouting America builds on the organization’s 114 years of helping America’s youth. Its ongoing goal is to provide young people with a safe environment where they can learn meaningful life skills and have fun, educational experiences, fostering their growth and future outcomes as leaders, and be prepared for life. At the same time, values instilled by the Scout Oath and Law help prepare young people for lives of purpose and impact.
More than 130 million Americans have been through Scouting programs since its founding in 1910, and currently, more than 1 million youth, including both men and women, are served by 477,000 dedicated adult volunteers in local councils throughout the country. To date, more than 2.75 million youth have earned Scouting’s highest rank of Eagle Scout.
In addition to supporting the nation’s youth, Scouting America will continue to be an important asset to strengthen our communities, having provided more than 7 million hours of volunteer services for community improvement and other projects across the country.
“Scouting America provides a welcoming, safe environment where youth can become the best version of themselves by learning from and respecting each other,” said Krone. “I encourage everyone to join us and experience the benefits of Scouting.”
– WHO ARE WE
For more than a century, the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has offered the nation’s foremost youth program of character development and values-based leadership training, helping young people be “Prepared. For Life.®” Scouting America will build on more than 114 years of guiding America’s youth, and it represents the next chapter of Scouting.
- More than 130 million Americans have been through our programs since our founding in 1910, and currently more than 1 million youth, including both men and women, are served by 477,000 dedicated adult volunteers in local councils throughout the country.
- To date, 2,752,000 youth have earned Scouting’s highest rank of Eagle Scout. Historically, that represents about 2.5% of those involved with Scouting. The current rate of today’s youth earning Eagle Scout is 7% of those in the Scouts BSA program.
– WHY WE ARE REBRANDING
Scouting America is the reflection of years of work to create an organization where we prepare every youth in America to lead a life of purpose and impact. Our new name is representative of the path we want Scouting to charter for the next century. Our organization welcomes all youth. Scouting is an environment where everyone should feel respected and valued.
- We recently celebrated the 5-year anniversary of welcoming girls into the Cub Scouts and Scouts BSA programs. Scouts BSA was formerly known as “Boy Scouts.” There are currently 176,234 girls and young women across all BSA programs, including more than 6,000 who have earned the rank of Eagle Scout.
In 2021, we celebrated our inaugural class of female Eagle Scouts. The incredible group of nearly 1,000 women collectively earned more than 30,000 merit badges, and they provided an estimated 130,000 hours of community service – even amid a pandemic.
– OUR MISSING REMAINS THE SAME
It has always been, Scouting America’s goal will be to continue providing young people fantastic experiences in both the outdoors and in their communities, where they can grow and learn with us in a safe environment.
- Scouting America will continue to prepare youth for lives of purpose and impact.
- Our mission remains the same. Prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.
– YOUTH SAFETY
Scouting has some of the most vigorous safety measures in place of any youth serving organization. We aim to ensure families know their children will be safe, whether their child is attending a weekly Scout meeting, going on a weekend camping trip with the troop, or attending the National Jamboree with thousands of other Scouts. Underpinning our approach to safeguarding youth is a singular focus on PREVENTION – identifying and addressing small issues so that we never have to deal with big ones.
- Through decades of work with national experts, we’ve developed rigorous safety procedures and policies, and we provide extensive training resources and tools for leaders in our programs. The guidelines we provide our leaders include required youth protection training, criminal background checks, no one-on-one adult and youth interactions, two-deep leadership, mandatory reporting of suspected abuse to law enforcement, a volunteer screening database, and more.
- The work of continually assessing our approach to prevention and to safeguard youth will never be done. The BSA is constantly improving and refining its programs and training to empower leaders, parents, and youth to protect each other and themselves – inside and outside of Scouting. In 2023, the BSA hired a Chief Safeguarding Officer reporting directly to the CEO and established a youth protection committee made up of experts in child protection and survivors of abuse in Scouting.
- We’ll continue to work with external partners, law enforcement, academia and fellow youth serving organizations to ensure that all youth will have the opportunity to learn the values of Scouting in a safe environment.
– WE ARE SCOUTING AMERICA
Scouting America is committed to providing a welcoming, safe environment where Scouts can become the best version of themselves by learning from and respecting each other. Whether you come from a family of Scouts, or have never known a Scout, if the thought of joining an organization that helps you live a life of purpose and impact excites you, we hope you’ll join us.