Urban Scouts: Inner-city boys get chance to learn life’s lessons

Saturday, Oct. 24, 1998 | 12:21 p.m.

Norman Rockwell never went into an inner-city neighborhood to paint a picture dripping with sentimental charm.

There are no scenes on canvas of tow-headed Boy Scouts helping old ladies cross a busy intersection such as the one at 15th and Fremont streets, an area infested with prostitutes and drug dealers.

But the Scouts are there, and even though the world has changed since Scouting was created in this country in 1910, the goal of the organization has not.

"There are some new merit badges," says Mike Miller, director of special projects for the Boulder Dam Council of the Boy Scouts of America. "But the core remains the same -- to teach values."

Using Scouting to develop character is as important to an inner-city kid as to one who lives in a suburban home with two late-model cars in the driveway.

It may be more important to the inner-city kids because it is often the only place where some of them are exposed to this type of leadership.

"They come from an area where there are not many programs," said Earl White, Scoutmaster and the resident-services coordinator for the YMCA's northeast extension.

White began his urban Boy Scout troop with six people in July, which has grown to 13 -- some from shattered homes, some from families who can't afford the full array of Scout equipment that makes the program so alluring to many, almost all of them surrounded by poverty and crime.

They meet the first and third Wednesdays of the month at the federally subsidized Fremont Villa apartment complex, 121 N. 15th St., a block north of the Fremont Street intersection.

"Sometimes just getting here and getting home is a big fight," White said.

But for those who do show up, some bused from as far away as the Casa Rosa complex in North Las Vegas, the trip is worth it.

"We talk about life issues and Scouting. We surround them with positive messages. The fun part is for them to go camping, but it gives me the opportunity to reinforce character development stressed by the YMCA and Scouting," White said.

He notes that most are exposed more to life's negatives, rather than positives.

There could be more inner-city children in Scouting, and White is sure his troop will grow, but he said "when a family is trying to survive, Scouting doesn't take a high priority. But it should because of the important lessons it teaches.

"Everything we do, we do for character development."

At a recent meeting, White began with the announcement of a Nov. 9 camping trip to Zion National Park -- a teaser before he began a discussion of values stressed in the Scout Manual.

"Every day, starting today, go to an adult and ask if there is something you can do to help them -- a teacher or school principal or parent," said White, sounding a little like a drill sergeant, a little like a minister. "Get in the habit of asking adults if there is something you can do for them. Those are little things that will go a long way. People will respect you."

The meeting was held on a patio between the complex's office and the swimming pool. A man holding a beer can stood nearby, watching the boys talk about the dry lessons of being physically fit and morally straight and then eagerly planning the Nov. 9 camping trip.

John Pinney, 12, a seventh-grader at Hyde Park Academy, joined the troop because he likes to camp.

"And I like making friends," he said.

So does 15-year-old Markeseron Winston, a high school sophomore who was among the first to join the troop.

"I like making friends and having fun," he said.

The first members of White's troop are choir boys compared with those who first joined a troop started five years ago by Anthony Jones, an officer with the Clark County School District police force.

"All but two were gang members," recalled Jones, whose troop meets every Wednesday at the Stupak Community Center in Meadows Village west of the Stratosphere Tower. Meadows Village, nicknamed Naked City, once was a war zone after a series of shootings and murders.

While White's troop is predominantly black, Jones' is a mixture of Hispanic, black and white.

"Language was a problem at first," Jones said.

But the problem was overcome and the troop has endured.

One original member, Jesus Ahedo, earned his Eagle Scout rank -- the highest a Scout can go -- in 1996 and has gone on to college.

Another original member, Juan Torres, has become an adult leader.

"Out of every five new kids we get, one or two stay with the program," Jones said. And even if they don't stay, most who go through the program, even briefly, are affected. They are less likely to get into trouble and many begin to excel in school.

When the troop first began, according to Jones, the overall grade-point average was 1.8 on a 4.0 scale. Now it's over 2.7.

"We emphasize school work," Jones said. "We mentor each kid.

"Some of them didn't realize they could do the work till we got them focused."

The fun things help keep the Scouts focused on the other things.

At the start of a recent meeting, Jones told his Scouts that the next camping trip would be Nov. 13 in the mountains near Pahrump, where they will hike to a trout-filled stream. "We camp, fish and hike a lot," Jones said.

He doesn't like to tag his group as an "urban troop."

"I call them Boy Scouts," said Jones, who earned his Eagle Scout rank in Memphis, Tenn. "When you put labels on things, they tend to live up to the label."

But, he agrees his troop is part of the Urban Scouting Program, a push by the Boy Scouts to bring inner-city kids into the Scouting fold.

Catherine Bolt, 23, is the Urban Scouting Executive for the local Boy Scout Council. That program, started in January, wants to assure any child who wants to may get into Scouting.

"We have a $17 annual fee for a boy to be in Scouting," Bolt said. "We see how much they can pay, and we pay the rest." And the council recently went into a partnership with the Salvation Army to create a uniform bank so that every Scout can have a uniform.

There are also camper scholarships to help pay for the cost of a camping trip. The council has a supply of sleeping bags and other equipment for those who can't afford their own.

"There's no reason anyone can't get into Scouting," Bolt said.

"Our mission," said Miller, "is to make sure Scouting is available to everyone who wants it."