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Inclusive Scouting Guide

Return to Part 3: Inclusion and Belonging in Action

Conclusion

Practicing Our Values: Learning And Improving Together

As Scouts and Scouters, we accept responsibility to care for one another and help ensure everyone has a safe environment to develop social-emotional learning, leadership, and citizenship skills. We practice by embodying the values of the Scout Oath and Law. As we have seen, the Oath and Law can help us advance inclusion and belonging by reminding us of our values, cultivating self-awareness, and by guiding us through the four kinds of knowing.

It is important to remember that no matter how many Youth Protection trainings we hold, how many anti-bullying policies we implement, or how many times we say we value inclusion and belonging, the only truly sustainable way to advance inclusion and belonging in our movement is to embody our values in all of our actions, all of the time, everyday, to the best of our ability.

As we know, it takes a lot of time and practice
to truly live Scouting’s most fundamental values. Transforming the BSA into an organization which is inclusive and affirms belonging for all will involve changing old habits and revising incorrect assumptions about those we have excluded. This may seem complicated or daunting at first, but by recalling our cherished Scouting values in new light, the path toward advancing inclusion and belonging in Scouting is bright and filled with exciting possibilities for all participants, families, communities—and for our entire country. By living Scouting’s fundamental values, we advance inclusion and belonging for all, and we help Scouting become the powerful force for good and justice that it can, and should, be.

As Robert Baden-Powell wrote:


“In all of this, it is the spirit that matters. Our Scout Law and [Oath], when we really put them into practice, take away all occasion for wars and strife among nations.” (34)


>>> Appendix: Resources for Further Learning