The Boy Scouts of America, Aloha Council is ramping up efforts to recruit new members across the islands.
The national organization has instituted systemwide changes as it works to move past the turmoil of bankruptcy and a flood of sexual abuse claims.
Earlier this year, the Hawaiʻi-based council settled a lawsuit filed by the family of a boy who was accidentally shot and killed at Camp Honokaia on Hawai‘i Island in 2022.
Blake Parsons, the CEO of the Aloha Council, which oversees scouting in Hawai‘i, Guam and American Samoa, said those incidents prompted his organization to look inward to ensure a safe experience for scouts and adults.
"It's taken us looking top down at all of our outdoor programs, all of our activities, how we deliver it, how we register people. From a national perspective, I think one thing that we've done as far as youth protection is we make sure that everybody who comes into our program, all adults, have a complete background check," Parsons said.
"They must go through youth protection. They must go through annual training, and that's before you even join the program. And those kind of key changes make sure that we're offering the safest, highest, ethical standard program we can offer," he said.
Parsons said the Aloha Council has about 4,000 youth members and 2,000 adult volunteers across roughly 180 units.
"One of the key things that comes out of scouting, that I think transcends time, is that leadership ability, and that's something that Scouts really excels on," he added.
The Boy Scouts of America will officially change its name to Scouting America on Feb. 8, 2025, timed to the organization’s 115th birthday. The rebrand is another shift for an organization that did not allow gay youths or girls to begin joining its ranks until relatively recently.
According to The Associated Press, the national organization began allowing gay youth in 2013 and ended a blanket ban on gay adult leaders in 2015.
In 2017, it made the historic announcement that girls would be accepted as Cub Scouts as of 2018 and into the flagship Boy Scout program — renamed Scouts BSA — in 2019.
"I think the members love it, the units love it. From a parent perspective, I think that's really where it came out of," Parsons said. "If you're a parent and you're able to take both of your kids to the same place, to this iconic program, and they can both participate, there's really no reason why they shouldn't."
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This interview aired on The Conversation on Aug. 29, 2024. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
