Scouting New Paths : Barrio Youths Find Fresh Challenges, and an Alternative to the Streets, in Boy Scouts

If the barrio Boy Scouts of La Colonia have learned anything in the last nine months, it is the practical meaning of the motto, “Be prepared.”

Packed into a laundry room that doubles as a beauty parlor at the Colonia Senior Citizens Center, members of Troop 229 were holding their weekly meeting, laying plans for an upcoming camp-out at Lake Casitas.

About a dozen boys had risen early this Saturday morning and made their way through the sometimes mean streets of this Latino enclave, concealing their tan Scout uniforms under baggy sweat shirts and other loose clothing.

They arrived in small groups at a building tucked deep into a public housing project, and once inside quickly filled a row of orange chairs usually reserved for ladies waiting to have their hair done.

After reciting the Boy Scout pledge--no easy task for some in the fledgling unit, which is yet to produce its first Tenderfoot--the boys got down to business. They talked about needing tents and extra warm clothing for their upcoming camping trip.

But most of all, they talked about the need for good, warm sleeping bags.

“The first time we went camping, nobody had sleeping bags,” said 16-year-old Juan Gonzalez, who was among a few La Colonia Scouts on that first summer adventure in the mountains above Frazier Park.

Few of the boys had ever been camping. And as is often the case with families in low-income neighborhoods, camping gear had never worked its way to the top of their parents’ shopping lists.

“We were all freezing, that’s all I know,” Gonzalez added. “Hopefully we will be more prepared this time.”

Be prepared. For youngsters in this barrio Scout troop, those are words to live by.

These are mostly the sons of immigrants and the products of poverty, and they are preparing for the fight of their lives. They are preparing to battle the influences of gangs and drugs. And they are preparing to overcome the despair of violent streets and broken homes.

Like a lot of youngsters in a lot of places, these youths are barreling toward a crossroads, facing the kind of tough lessons that could prepare them for a lifetime of success or a lifelong series of failures.

That’s where Scouting comes in. Parents and community leaders hope the program’s emphasis on discipline and community service can help youngsters steer clear of the darker influences.

And in the bargain, Scout leaders hope that they can spark interest in school, church and civic activities.

“Many of these kids are deprived, un-cared for and unloved,” said Antonio Garcia, hired 2 1/2 years ago by the Ventura County Council of the Boy Scouts of America to boost membership, especially among Latinos, in the Oxnard area.

“They just want attention; they are looking for something to belong to,” Garcia said. “If they are going to belong to a gang, they might as well belong to a good gang.”

In the larger view, the Boy Scout troop in La Colonia reflects a nationwide trend to incorporate Latinos and other minorities in the 85-year-old Scouting tradition.

And it highlights an effort in Ventura County and elsewhere to erase a perception of the organization as an all-white bastion of middle-class suburbia.

In Ventura County, Scout leaders say the largest surge in membership over the last 20 months has occurred in the heavily Latino communities of Oxnard, Port Hueneme and El Rio.

“There is a national push to serve some of the kids we haven’t done a good job with in the past,” said David Graska, Scout executive for the Ventura County council. “By no means are we doing what I call a great job out there, but we are doing better and we’re starting to develop community awareness and community support that I think we will be able to sustain over the next decade.”

*

Deep in the barrio of La Colonia, Patsy Nunez had been waiting for nearly an hour.

Sipping from a jumbo cup of coffee, she sat in a van with her son, Ruben, waiting for a Cub Scout meeting to start. It was a Saturday, Ruben’s eighth birthday, and Nunez figured there was no better way to start his big day.

“I want to keep them off the streets and I want them to learn different things,” said Nunez, a 30-year-old mother of six. “These days, a lot of these kids are already on drugs and getting into trouble. I don’t want that for my kids.”

A few minutes later, Boy Scout troop leader Jaime Becerra drove up, flashing the Boy Scout salute. Becerra, 33, is a lifetime La Colonia resident and has led the Scout troop since it was formed in February. He was a Boy Scout in his youth, and said it made a big difference in his life.

“I’ve seen so many young lives destroyed by gangs and drugs,” Becerra said of why he volunteers untold hours to the Scouting effort. For no money and even less glory, he has taken troop members to the San Buenaventura Mission and to Dodger Stadium for a ballgame.

Becerra kicked off the meeting by having Juan Gonzalez stand and deliver the Boy Scout oath.

“On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country,” Juan started out, with the others repeating after him, flanked on each side by coin-operated washing machines.

“And to obey the Scout law,” Juan continued, “to help other people at all times, to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.”

Becerra went on to talk about the upcoming trip to Lake Casitas, and updated efforts by members to earn Tenderfoot badges, the first rank in Scouting.

Scout meetings in La Colonia are about much more than camp-outs and merit badges. Each meeting hammers home a strong anti-drug message. And each is heavy on a theme of personal responsibility.

For their part, the members of Troop 229 reveal little about why they joined the Boy Scouts when they are together.

“We just want to kick back and have fun,” said Julio (Bear) Cahue, a 15-year-old Rio Mesa High student and the appointed patrol leader.

But many of the Scouts are visibly uncomfortable with any kind of publicity. Some say that their school friends don’t even know they belong to the group.

They won’t come out and say they are embarrassed, but Scouting clearly is not considered the coolest thing they could be doing.

But individually, the youngsters say they know the benefits of belonging. And so do their parents.

“It’s better than them being out on the streets,” said Juan’s father, Froylan Mejia, 35, who is a field hand. “It gives them something positive to be involved in.”

Raquel Ortiz, a packinghouse worker and the mother of 12-year-old David, added: “I have a lot of fear for my children when they are out in the streets, a lot of bad things can happen. This is something good for the kids to be involved in.”

David, a seventh-grader at Ocean View Junior High, said he joined La Colonia’s troop five months ago, knowing that some schoolmates might give him a hard time.

“I wanted to get my problems solved, family problems and problems at school,” he said. “It feels good to be able to talk to someone you really know.”

*

In Ventura County, there are nearly 300 Scouting units, with about 7,500 members.

Although no official record is kept, Scout Executive David Graska estimates that 8% to 13% of the Scouts countywide are Latino, up from just a few years ago.

“Those are not good numbers yet, not when you look at the demographics,” Graska said.

It costs $7 a year to join the Scouts, and an additional $80 to $100 for a uniform. There are also costs associated with camping trips and other activities. But Graska said Scout leaders work hard--through scholarships and other means--to ensure that cost is not a factor in whether a boy joins up.

Recognizing the need to recruit Latinos and other minorities, Graska said the local organization started making handbooks and training materials available in Spanish. But the most important thing Scout leaders did was hire Antonio Garcia--the first Latino ever hired in the history of the Boy Scout movement in Ventura County--to drum up membership and support in the Spanish-speaking community.

“We just felt that if we were really going to be serious about making some inroads, we needed to get someone who could speak the language and who understood the culture,” Graska said.

“I think the future of Scouting in California is going to be minorities,” he added.

The hiring of Garcia has paid dividends. Since he came on board 2 1/2 years ago, membership in the Oxnard/Hueneme District has jumped from 840 Scouts to 1,040.

But in all that success, Garcia said, he is perhaps proudest of what has taken place in La Colonia.

Talking to community leaders and business owners, the 44-year-old former instructor at Oxnard College was able to stir interest in forming a local troop.

He persuaded Father Hilario Cisneros--pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in La Colonia--to spread the word about the Scout troop. Later, Cisneros helped sew uniforms for troop members who couldn’t afford to buy them.

And when the Scouts were forced to brave the camp-out near Frazier Park without sleeping bags, he persuaded Oxnard Mayor Manuel Lopez to supply the youngsters with camping gear.

Today, Troop 229 has about 16 active youngsters and interest is growing all the time.

“I’m very proud of those boys, they are qualified to compete with any troop in the county,” Garcia said. “And I’m very proud of how the community has responded to support them. I would like to have a troop in every neighborhood. You can really see how it makes a difference in these boys’ lives.”