Ticket question...Diversity

[schleining]

Ok.. I almost I have ticket written, but then there is the Diversity question...

I have all the hand outs and listened to our Troop guide talk about it, but what kinds of goals are attainable in this area.

 

I have thought about recruiting "Diverse" leaders, but that pretty much comes when we get the new Scouts..

I do not want to make it a race issue and target that in recruiting. Our area is pretty much white and hispanic, we do what we can in that regard.

 

Does anyone have any ideas for Diversity as it applies to the ticket?

 

Jerry

"...and a Good 'Ol Beaver too!"

[orennoah]

Rather than "targeting" recruiting toward any particular race, how about expanding your recruiting efforts to cover parts of your area that haven't had as much information about your Troop as others? E.g., contacting local service organizations, churches or other community groups and offering to give a speech on what your Troop does, how it helps the community and how it helps its members become the sorts of citizens and leaders we all need.

 

- Oren

"I used to be Bear . . . ."

WE3-41-03

QM

WE3-41-05

 

[SWScouter]

For my diversity ticket item, I did something like what Orennoah suggests. I'm currently a Webelos Den Leader for a pack chartered by a Catholic Parish. Traditionally, recruiting is accomplished by handing out flyers to the Parish school's boys for the Fall school night. Membership in the pack is predominately Catholic since most of the children attending the school are Catholic. What I did was to go to several of the nearby public schools and handout flyers for school night. Things didn't go as well as I would have liked because the school district had a ban on flyers so only two of the five schools distributed them. I also wanted to do a door to door campaign but the COR did not allow it. On top of that, I helped out with the school night and created a DVD picture show of a lot of the things the den has done over the last few years.

 

In a nutshell, the diversity ticket item was to increase the area of recruiting in order to increase the diversity of the pack.

 

Diversity is quite a broad area. There is a huge number of approaches your diversity item can take. I like to think of it as a way to increase the scope of something within your vision for scouting. Don't think of it as the dreaded diversity item, but as a way to expand or maximize the reach of your vision for scouting.

 

Enjoy the rest of your woodbadge experience!

 

SWScouter

[OldGreyEagle]

I was going to do this one, but another opportunity working with Scoutreach came along, but here is the gist;

 

On a campout, schedule time for a discussion with the troop, after dinner on saturday would be good, after clean up, around a fire or in a cabin. The quesiton is, what is a normal family? Most kids will say a mother, father and children. Ask how many kids parents are divorced, how many have grandparents living with them or as primary care givers, how many are adopted, are there any foster children in the troop. What ethnic backgrounds are represented.What religions are present, are they all Christian or are there a Jewish, Islam, Hindu etc. members. Are there Physical handicaps, not just obvious ones, but hidden ones akso. If done well, it shows there is so much diversity right under out noses that we never notice.

 

This will work if you already have a mix of the above, if your troop is pretty homogenic its not as powerful as if there are multiple examples of the above.(This message has been edited by OldGreyEagle)

[theysawyoucomin']

I completed my ticket as a Den Leader.

 

My first choice did not happen due to the foriegn scout backing out on his presentation. But here goes...

 

The Cub Scouts in our Pack cannot go to the world Jamboree. However, much of the world comes to us through business, university, medical etc. I wanted to have a person from a foreign country come and speak at a Pack meeting with his or her old uniform, handbook, etc. to show the boys that scouting is indeed worldwide. I had an RPI student from Malaysia all set to go but he backed out on me and the service fraternity could not supply another person, time was fading so I thought it unattainable after the 30 or so members of the frat would not step forward.

 

So even though I thought it was an outstanding idea it had to be dropped for...

 

We had a family movie night for the Pack early in the school year and showed "Follow Me Boys". Let's not go down the GSS voilations road. It was simply a silly Walt Disney movie about a fantasy town. It helped some with recruiting(not as much as I had hoped it would) but the kids loved it admission was 50 cents and all concession stuff was sold at just about cost.. We donated the proceeds(about 70 bucks ) to the Worldwide Friendship Fund and explained to the boys want that fund does and how it helps out. We showed them the certificate and at my beading it was mentioned again in front of the boys how they helped people.

 

For another idea, my Cubmaster took the same course as me,and here's what he did.

He generated an online survey (handouts also) for parents to communicate how well they thought the Pack was acheiving the goals of Scouting. People were generally satisfied.

 

Think attainable........but it should be someting you feel strongly about.

[Eamonn]

The Diversity ticket item can be difficult.

Our Council hosted a course, with me serving as the Course Director. Even though it was a cluster course, most of the participants came from our area which is not racially diverse.

Even the Synagogue in the next town closed because of lack of members.

I have seen a lot of tickets that have to do with Scout's own Services. A few that have been about Handicapped Awareness.

One Cubmaster who serves a very rural pack had meetings with an inner-city pack. They did exchange meetings.

Some Course participants have worked with Special Olympics and some have worked with the elderly.

While the ticket item should be a goal that helps you reach your vision and your mission, many Participants try and make ticket items a lot harder than they have to be.

If you want you might want to look at Scoutreach programs. Some of the ideas and things that the OA is coming up with and doing are very worthwhile and exciting.

Eamonn.

[ManyIrons]

For my diversity item I set-up a troop Hobby night -- diversity of interests. The rationale was that most of our members only know each other through Scouting and only interact with one another at Scouting activities (our troop draws Scouts from 4 different school districts). The Scouts -- and leaders -- were asked to set up a display of items that were, or represented, the things they like to do for fun (when they're not at Scouts).

 

Everyone was given space to set up their stuff and we all took turns viewing all the displays and talking with the owner. The point of this was to get to know one another a little better and to possibly find others who share your recreational interests.

 

The boys loved it. They enjoyed sharing their personal interests with everyone and I learned a lot about the boys and other leaders that I may not have learned otherwise. The PLC has kept it a part of the annual program for the past 2 years.

[Eamonn]

Nice thinking ManyIrons.

I read about cooking and taking a food dish that was a native dish or a dish that was part of their ethnic heritage.

When England joined the EEC, there was an idea that menus in Truck Stops should be in English and in French. They ran into a few problems with things like Toad in the hole and one of my favorites Spotted Dick.

Somehow I can't see a English truck driver sitting down to a big plate of Escargots Aux Grenouilles (Frog legs and Snails) Both of which I happen to like a lot.

Eamonn.

 

[orennoah]

Eamonn:

 

I don't think that National lets us talked about Spotted stuff. :-)

 

- Oren

 

P.S. The first BSA "Handbook for Boys" contained a recipe for frog's legs. Somehow, it just never seemed to catch on with the boys. Go figure. (This message has been edited by a staff member.)

[madkins007]

Not sure if it would apply under the guidelines for Woodbadge, but...

 

Locally, we have many festivals and holidays celebrating different heritages. What if every month or so, your pack had an outing to one of these to see how other groups live?

 

We have Czeck fests, Italian fests, German fests (Oktoberfest!), African-American fests, various Hispanic fests, various Oriental fests, American Indian Pow-Wows and more, and Omaha just isn't that big or diverse a town.

 

There are also dozens of holidays you can explore, from Kwanza to Chinese New Year. Most worship houses of other faiths would welcome you to many of their events with open arms.

 

Also- most towns have SOME sort of organizations dedicated to helping people from other heritages, including things like organizations for people with disabilities, embassys, etc.

 

I don't know how many you'd have to hit to meet the spirit of Woodbadge, but I think it would be enough fun if properly planned to make it a whole 'side program'- aim for hitting one of these evernts every couple months or so.

[NeilLup]

Check out the web site of the Boston Minuteman Council

 

www.bsaboston.org

 

and look up the 21st Century Pioneer Award. This is a diversity related award which has age specific levels for all youth in Scouting. It is available for anyone and is intended to be fun.

 

ManyIrons, I greatly respect your creativity and initiative but I'm pretty certain that "diversity of interests" is not what is intended in the diversity requirement. Rather, I believe that elements of personal diversity are intended. This certainly does not need to be only race but can be gender, language, ethnicity, national origin, handicaps, etc. The idea is to explore our "comfort zone" and to push beyond it and also to expand Scouting beyond its normal perception as a white, middle class suburban organization.

[NIscouter]

Diversity - there is something redefined for me by WB. I found that diversity is defined not only in ethnic, economic, or racial terms, but also in terms of your existing "group" of leaders. My troop has a small group of adults as leaders, and I am hoping to expand this group by presenting a short review of the methods of scouting to the new parents next year with a pitch to join our committee. I feel this process will help new blood moving into the committee (increase our diversity) and help prevent a situation where the committee is made up of all parents of older scouts only. Also, I hope to get a few more allies in using all of the methods of scouting in our troop :>

[ManyIrons]

Thanks for the compliment Eamonn.

 

Neil, I understand where you're coming from. When the staff told us that one of our ticket items had to incorporate diversity, it seemed like everyone began thinking along the lines of racial or handicap awareness -- including yours truly. Once the staff realized we were all headed in the same direction they stopped us all and said "Folks the requirement simply says diversity. What does that mean to you?".

 

That really threw me off. Here I was trying to think of a worthy item involving racial, ethnic, or abilities awareness and then I was essentially told to quit being a lemming. I continued to fret over this one item until a staff member then gave me excellent advice -- go back and review the purpose of the wood badge ticket. After doing that, and then noting that the course materials said the item must "incorporate some aspect of diversity". I got the idea for hobby night.

 

As I said in my previous post, our troop draws from 4 different school districts. Because of this, our Scouts tended to clump in their school groups. On top of that we have a wide array of economic status too. On one end I have a soon-to-be-Eagle who drives a BMW to troop meetings. Another drives a Cadillac. At the other end, I have two brothers that religiously work every fundraiser in order to earn enough to attend summer camp each year. Reaching out to each other was going outside of their comfort zones.

 

It all boiled down to this for me. I saw barriers forming in my troop due to human diversity and I designed a ticket item to resolve it. My thought process evolved something like this:

 

What's the best why to combat barriers? Communication.

 

How do most people communicate effectively? When they're discussing things they're interested in.

 

Interests - - hobbies - - hobby night (a.k.a opportunity to discuss/communicate) - - interaction - - communication - - understanding/common ground

 

Did we achieve Shangri-La? Nope. Did it help? Yes. Our Scouts interact with one another more than I saw in the past. I wont claim its solely because of a few hobby nights, but I will take credit for setting the tone. Am I done? No. Do I approach it differently? Yes because of Woodbadge.

 

[Eamonn]

Hi NeilLup

I have been trying to think what I would say to ManyIrons if I were the Troop Guide.

While Scouting is my hobby and it doesn't leave a lot of time for much else. Some of the things I do in my spare time do reflect the fact that I'm not an American.

I have several Monopoly Boards from different countries,I have a large collection of Irish folk music,the Tupperware box filled with patches has patches from all over the world, but a lot from the UK, my photograph albums have photos from many countries and show Scouts from several different countries. My other Tupperware box has match boxes and book matches from all over the world. My cigarette cards have sets of Kings, Queens,British Butterflies and a set of Boy Scout and Girl Scout Patrols.

We have no way of knowing what a Scout might bring in to a hobby night and no way of knowing where the discussion about his hobby might end.

Sure if every Scout in the Troop brings in a set of Pokmon cards, there wouldn't be a lot of diversity, but how different people or different groups spent their spare time does have the potential of seeing them in a different light.

Eamonn.

[Scoutmaster Ron]

What about reaching out to other units in your area or even outside your area schedule a campout with a another troop. During the campout have someone either talk about their heritage and have the boys cook something to share that best represents their background.

 

For my ticket I scheduled a campout with a Samoan troop and roasted a pig.

I used to be an owl