San Fernando Scouts

The Scouting program promotes character development, encouraging values such as honesty, integrity, and respect. Through merit badge programs, Scouts delve into specialized areas of interest, gaining knowledge in fields like science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), as well as cultural studies and the arts. Leadership training is also a fundamental aspect, empowering Scouts to take on responsibilities and cultivate teamwork. The Scouting education components extend beyond the traditional classroom setting, offering a dynamic and experiential learning environment that prepares young individuals for a well-rounded, enriching future. It is important to note we have many Conservation Merit Badges that encourage Scouts to take a look at their impact on our environment. We offer a Merit Badge for Sustainability, which asks Scouts to review their family's water bills over the past several months and develop and implement a plan to reduce their family's water consumption. They are asked to come up with three ideas on how they can reduce usage and implement those over the course of one month and share their results with their Merit Badge Counselor. Within this same Merit Badge, they are asked to learn about the sustainability of different energy sources and the concept of their family's carbon footprint. They are also asked to develop and implement a plan to reduce consumption of household utilities that consume energy, such as gas appliances, electricity, heating systems, or cooling systems. Like with water consumption, they are asked to develop and implement three ideas over the course of one month in an effort to reduce their consumption.

Additionally, Scouting helps develop leadership and civic-mindedness among young people through Citizenship Merit Badges, which educate Scouts on the importance of providing an environment of diversity, equity, and inclusion along with how to be an active and engaged citizen of their local community, country, and world abroad. Through their involvement in Scouting, individuals are provided with opportunities to take on leadership roles and responsibilities. Whether it's leading a patrol (a small team of six to eight members within a unit) or organizing an event, Scouts learn to lead by example, make decisions, and effectively communicate with others. These leadership skills extend beyond Scouting activities and positively influence their interactions within the broader community. By nurturing the next generation of leaders, Scouting contributes to the development of capable and engaged citizens who can play active roles in shaping their local communities.

The program fostered environmental awareness by teaching conservation principles and encouraging participants to become stewards of natural spaces. Youth and families developed practical skills like hiking, navigation, and safety, boosting confidence in outdoor activities. Immersive experiences at Emerald Bay allowed participants to explore natural history through plant identification, animal tracking, and ecosystem studies, fostering a connection to nature and biodiversity. Group activities and challenges strengthened community bonds, enhanced teamwork, and fostered social connections. Families shared outdoor adventures, creating lasting memories and reinforcing unity. Outdoor activities promoted physical fitness and mental well-being, encouraging healthier lifestyles. Youth participants gained confidence and leadership skills by taking on roles during group activities, empowering them to make decisions, share knowledge, and inspire stewardship within their communities.

Partnerships

a. The Partnership with San Fernando VFW 3834 as the home base has gone well – the unit has done several service projects there (cards for troops, clean-ups, collecting toys for the holidays), in addition to their weekly meetings. The commander of the VFW even had his kids join the unit recently!

b. Created a safe space for youth members in low-income and high crime rate areas to come to after school, enabling to take part in the Scouting program, which promotes character development, leadership development, citizenship training, and the encouragement of mental and physical fitness.

Our programming was on hold for close to 10 months (October 2023 to August 2024) due to a change of ownership at our community homebase, Casa Esperanza. The location remains the same, however we had to come to a new agreement to rent the facility so we could resume programming and get the youth members back into the program as soon as possible. In a partnership with Chase Bank, financial literacy classes were offered to both Scouts and parents. This class gave insight to the importance of finances in their lives. Representative Juliana brought an innovative and engaging method to understanding money management through pizza slices, this also fed all participants.

For this group, we are working largely with volunteers – while the programming itself is running well, it has made it more difficult to hold them accountable for things such as reporting supply purchases, etc. since they are not paid staff. We are actively working with them to track purchases as they make them so we can ensure we are able to reimburse for all items applicable under the grant.

Due to the closure of our CHB, there is not a lot of updated information to share at this stage. The primary unforeseen challenge was the unexpected closure of the CHB and transition of ownership, who did not initially honor our agreement with the previous owners. As a result, we had to work hard to negotiate with the new owners to resume our program and made sure to get a contract in place stipulating we would be able to run program over the course of the next 3 years and then we would revisit the facility agreement.