The Girl Scouts of America is planning a makeover aimed at keeping the organization relevant to today’s young women while staying true to the group’s guiding principles.
The transformation — timed to coincide with the organization’s 95th anniversary in 2007 — will be the largest in the organization’s history and will impact some, but not all, of the local councils in the capital area.
The Scouts are among the largest nonprofits serving girls in the nation. The capital council serves more than 50,000 girls and has been growing each year. Eventually, it may absorb some of the smaller councils in the Maryland and Virginia regions, said Charlene Meidlinger, assistant executive director of the Girl Scout Council of the Nation’s Capital.
The council has been refining its plans and getting feedback from scouts and their parents on new programs to be initiated over the next two years. Some existing programs, such as sleep-ins and the annual cookie drive, will be strengthened. The council and scouting officials have been asking scouts for new ideas for the past several years, Meidlinger said.
“We’ve talked to girls about their fears, and their worries about staying away from drugs and other peer-pressure issues,” Meidlinger said.
They hope to address Internet-related issues such as “cyber-boying” — where the Internet plays an ever increasing role in their dating lives — and the cutting remarks and hurtful speech that are part of the online world. All of these can damage young girls’ views of themselves, Meidlinger said.
“We want to develop programs that help them to know that they have a safe place here, where they can grow and develop while under our protective reach,” she added.
Not all of the Girl Scout Councils in the region will be changed.
“The Girl Scouts of Central Maryland is one of the councils that will not undergo realignment,” said Danita Terry, of the central Maryland council.
The criteria guiding the realignment have to do with competition for the same funding sources and attention in the same broadcast market, Terry explained. “None of those criteria effect our council — we are the ninth largest council; we serve 30,000 girls in five counties — Baltimore City, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard counties.”
Her council will begin a new Leadership Development Program, which will be planned in preparation for the 2008 Girl Scout program year.
Have information about area nonprofits? Contact Frank Sietzen at [email protected].
