Girl Scouts reach out to Hispanic girls
Associated Press
Miami Herald
Jan 30, 2007
ATLANTA - A program that seeks to recruit Hispanics for Girl Scout troops has been booming in metro Atlanta, with more than 1,600 girls involved by last year in some 46 Hispanic troops.
While the troop meetings and activities have the same goals as Girl Scouts anywhere - building self-esteem, responsibility and leadership skills - the Hispanic programs have a few unique aspects.
Many girls recite bilingual vows as they pledge to the Girl Scouts, hold meetings in Spanish and ask for cookie sales forms to be printed in Spanish.
While Hispanic girls have long been in the Girl Scouts, the national organization has recently targeted those who might not speak English or come from lower-income homes for specific recruiting efforts.
In 2003, two years after the effort started in metro Atlanta, there were 400 Hispanic Girl Scouts in the area, said Consuelo Luna, who oversees the effort for the Girl Scout Council of Northwest Georgia. Last year, the number had quadrupled, and another 1,000 Hispanic girls belong to traditional troops.
"Girl Scouts is basically an American tradition, so being part of this allows them to be a part of America too," said Jenny Kocher, who is originally from Colombia and oversees Hispanic troops in several metro Atlanta counties.
On a recent afternoon, Kocher joined troop leader Norma Mendoza at a meeting at Dresden Elementary in DeKalb County to discuss cookie sales, the Scouts' biggest fundraiser of the year.
They shared tips on sales - such as American customers prefer Thin Mints, while Cafe cookies are the top seller for Hispanics, Kocher said.
After the meeting, Kocher said that girls from the Hispanic troops will also have a tougher sale than other Scouts, in part because $3.50 might seem like a lot of money for a box of cookies in some immigrant neighborhoods.
Also, the cookie-sales tradition - or even Girl Scouts - aren't well known among Hispanics.
Soledad Ramirez, a Mexican immigrant who works at a dry cleaner, had never heard of the Girl Scouts until her 9-year-old daughter asked if she could sign up.
