Free Girl Scouts Online Event Celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month

 

Here's another awesome free online event for you guys to catch! This Saturday, Saturday October 3, 2020, 10 a.m. – noon CT, the Girl Scouts of Central Texas (GSCTX) is hosting a virtual event in which they explore a series of cultural activities from different Latin American countries.

From their FB even page:

"Our virtual celebration will feature live demonstrations, including:

• Peruvian Baking class from James Beard and Award semi-finalist Chef Maribel Rivero (@CocinaMaribel) https://www.cocinamaribel.com/
• A Latin dance class
• Guatemalan kite making
• Panel of local Girl Scouts discussing what it's like growing up Latina


About our presenters:

Chef Maribel Rivero
Food is a constant topic that always goes back to home cooking for James Beard Award semi-finalist Chef Maribel Rivero. Cooking to her is about sharing life experiences and traditions with food. She is motivated by the stories behind cooking and expressing that story into the flavor of the Latin cuisine. In 2017, she and her brother created Yuyo Peruano restaurant as a celebration of the culinary immersion found throughout South America, where she connected with the people and the culinary community from Bolivia, Peru, Argentina, and Uruguay. Chef Maribel now continues to do Zoom cooking classes that showcases those award winning Latin flavors.

Keyler Maguilbray
Keyler loves dancing and loves to teach different styles of dance such as salsa, bachata, cumbia , merengue , salsa casino and more. She started teaching in Venezuela before deciding to come to the US. During her first year in the United States she had the opportunity to teach a bachata team and group classes with Impulso Dance Academy, Inspired Movement Studio and even performed at the Harlem Globetrotters game.

She enjoyed teaching so much that she decided to start traveling to different cities and perform with a dance partner. In 2018 and 2019 she was teaching and performing at dance congresses in Dallas , New Orleans, Houston and all over Austin."

If you have a girl scout in your home or simply want to join in the fun, register for free here. A patch is available for purchase ($3) during registration. It will be mailed to you.

Girl Scouts Launches Hispanic Recruitment Campaign

This is a guest post by columnist, Mercedes Olivera.

When you invite a young girl and her family to check out a camp site for the summer, better be prepared for 20 members of la familia to show up – everybody from the grandparents to the aunts and uncles who want to see what la niña will be experiencing.

It’s just one example of some of the cultural challenges the Girl Scouts is finding out it must deal with as it launches a Hispanic recruitment campaign to attract young Latinas.

As part of a national rebranding effort to revitalize and update its image as it nears its 100th anniversary, the national organization recently started this outreach effort to attract more girls from the fastest-growing population in the nation.

Understanding demographics can mean the difference between growth and stagnation for many organizations. And like many advertisers and companies, the Girl Scouts have seen the new Census numbers that show Hispanic families tend to be larger than most.

They also exhibit the kind of family values that have made the Girl Scouts such a venerable household name.


It is a natural step for an organization that has a tradition of accepting girls from all backgrounds.


“We want them to know that Girls Scouts meets their values,” said Gwyneth Lloyd, chief program officer for the Hispanic Welcome Initiative of the Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas.


But recruiting Hispanic girls into scouting has required an extra touch. It wasn’t simply a matter of translating its information materials into Spanish, Lloyd said.


It was far more a question of reaching out culturally.


“Rather than push the girls to get involved, we realized the need to push for families,” she said.


Like so many other issues and events in Hispanic communities, scouting is a family affair, it turns out.


Once the family gets involved, the girl does, too. And so does la mamá.


“Once the mother grasps who we are, then they absolutely show their willingness to volunteer and work with the troops,” Lloyd said.

The northeast Texas organization, which serves 35,000 girls and 16,000 adult members, is designing a welcoming initiative for Hispanic families that will launch this fall. It has already developed an interactive bilingual web site and quadrupled its bilingual staff.

In addition, it gives all new Hispanic troop leaders a set of materials that include a bilingual program manual and adult guide.

It seems to be off to a good start of reaching its goal of increasing its Hispanic membership from its current 19.6 percent to 25 percent.

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For more information about the Girl Scouts' move to involve Hispanic families, take a look at this article.