More Top Picks Best Folding Beds
player ready...After Dan Barreiro retired last year after working 35 years for the city of Aurora, he lost no time in using his expertise in another field.
He’s now the vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion for the Boy Scouts of America Three Fires Council, which includes DuPage, Will, Kane, DeKalb and Kendall counties..
Rising through the ranks at Aurora City Hall, Barreiro’s final position was as chief community services officer. During his tenure, he was a mayoral assistant, worked in HR and finance, and served as the assistant chief of staff for then-Mayor Tom Weisner.
“I was heavily involved with (diversity, equity and inclusion) government officials in trying to educate people,” he explained. “I’m looking forward to us doing a good job at Three Fires Council.”
The Council covers scout troops in
Barreiro’s first task is to put together a diversity, equity and inclusion committee, the purpose of which will be to make every stakeholder in the Boy Scouts council feel welcomed and valued. Thee at-large committee with several sub-committees will meet four to eight times a year.
“We had a meeting in December, which went well, but we still need more people,” he said.
Committee members don’t have to have children in scouting. What they really want is to cover as many diversities as possible, Barreiro.
“We want to be intentional,” he said. “We want to make sure every voice is being heard. We’d particularly like to hear Asian and African American perspectives.”
He added that in Naperville the Asian population is well represented in scouting, but he would still like to see representatives from their community on his committee.
“We need more Hispanic voices too,” he said.
Barreiro admits that scouting isn’t a priority in all ethnicities, but with numbers down due to the pandemic, he thinks it’s a good time for all parents to consider it.
Three Fires Council believes that a diverse membership and volunteer leadership will make scouting even stronger and better positioned to serve more young people with fun and adventure.
“The bottom line is scouts want to serve more kids and everyone being comfortable puts a focus on it,” Barreiro said.
Like many organizations, the scouting movement has been hit hard by the pandemic. Although they have met outdoors and virtually, recruitment has been a struggle. After a lot of challenges in 2020, they were still unable to be fully back to normal in 2021. Barreiro thinks now is the time to improve areas like diversity, equity and inclusion to encourage growth once the pandemic is over.
“We want people to know their voices are represented, I think it’s going to help the scouts,” he said. “When we compare ourselves to other councils, Three Fires is holding its own compared to scouts nationally and that’s a good thing.
“We are in a growing area, not in an area that’s losing population, especially when you look at counties that don’t have troops. There used to be troops in all schools and we’re trying to get back to that. It takes more adult leaders, not just the youth, so we’re always looking for scout leaders. One of our challenges is making sure there are more troop leaders,” he said.
Although the Boy Scouts of America began back in 1910 as a male organization, they’ve become more inclusive as time has gone on. The family scouting concept was introduced in 2018 when girls were invited to join.
“Scouting builds strong character. A lot of scouts have become successful because it’s a good foundation for leadership skills,” Barreiro said.
The Boy Scouts of America believe diversity, equity and inclusion is so important that they’ve just launched a new merit badge, Citizenship in Society. Scouts need to complete 11 different requirements in diversity, equity and inclusion principal, so they can better understand different perspectives and experiences.
This includes respecting others’ beliefs and identifying actions to help create an inclusive and welcoming culture of belonging.
Clint Scharff, executive CEO of Three Fires Council, is excited about Barreiro’s leadership.
“We are always looking for talented, thoughtful people who believe in the mission of the BSA; to install the values of the scout oath and law in young people,” he said.
Scharff believes that as an organization, the BSA needs to identify and remove real and perceived barriers to scouting participation.
More Top Picks Best Sleeping Pads
“For example, 20% of the youth population in our service area is Hispanic yet only 5% of our membership is Hispanic,” he said. “What do we need to do to help Hispanic families see scouting as a positive program for their children?
“In 2019, the BSA opened its programs to girls and as a result our youth membership is now 8% female, yet many other scout councils in the country are double that percentage already. How can we make scouting more accessible to girls who are looking for the outdoor adventure and leadership training our program provides? These are the types of questions I hope a (diversity, equity and inclusion) committee can help us answer and implement.”
Three Fires Council currently has more than a dozen scout troops for girls with several more under development and ready to launch early this year.
“We are also very deliberate in our hiring looking to fill roles with talented people who can help us serve a more diverse membership,” Scharff said.
“For example, having a bilingual membership services staff person has been critical. We’ve adjusted our scholarship request form to make sure that we are delivering scholarship dollars where they are most needed and have the most impact.”
If you’d like to learn more about serving on the diversity, equity and inclusion committee, contact Clint Scharff at [email protected].
Hilary Decent is a freelance journalist who moved to Naperville from England in 2007.