Wally Tirado, who works closely with scouts in the Dallas area through a Scouting America leadership group, said the diversity among youth members was evident at a recent dinner honoring new Eagle Scouts.
A historic rebrand of the Boy Scouts of America has been followed by a small uptick in young people joining what will now be called Scouting America, a welcoming sign as the organization tries to move past scandal and bankruptcy.
The rebrand is among momentous events the tradition-steeped organization has seen over the last decade, including its 2020 bankruptcy filing amid a flood of claims from tens of thousands of people — mainly men — who said they were abused as young scouts.
And in 2017 it announced that girls would be accepted as Cub Scouts as of 2018 and into the flagship Boy Scout program — renamed Scouts BSA — in 2019.
Although the overall gain in membership was small — about 16,000 new scouts, up less than 2% from the prior year — it is still encouraging for the organization after participation plummeted during the pandemic.
