The Girl Scouts of 91直播 is actively working to remove obstacles for girls interested in joining, particularly those in low-income and rural areas.
Efforts include hiring 12 new staff members — three of which will be on 91直播 Island — to lead troops where parents lack the time to volunteer.
GSH will also support new scouts by continuing its Title I After School Leadership program that has made badges, gear and membership free for girls that qualify for reduced-price lunches at 25 Title I schools since 2013, according to Kanoe Naone, chief executive officer of GSH.
“There should never be a reason why a girl can’t be a Girl Scout if they want to be,” said Nikki Premo, who has been a Girl Scout troop leader on Big Island for 10 years. “In school, they learn history, English and all that, but with my girls, I love to teach them life skills. They’re cooking and sewing and learning how to use a pocket knife and build fires. I try to expose them to everything and anything I can.”
The aim is that each of the 12 new employees will be in charge of 10 troops comprised of 150 Girl Scouts. Adding 120 new troops statewide would give 1,800 girls an avenue to join GSH, which Naone said would be a doubling of the existing number of participants.
There currently are 28 troops on the Big Island in Kona, Waimea, Hilo, Ka‘u and Puna, Naone said. She said those troops offer 358 girls access to Girl Scouts, 56 of whom benefit from the Title I support. The Title I program serves about 400 to 500 girls statewide each year, she said.
Of the 12 full-time positions, which are paid with benefits, the three on 91直播 Island will be focused on supporting troops in Hilo, Waimea and Puna, Naone said, adding that offer letters already have been sent to three candidates who were selected out of hundreds of applicants.
Naone said GSH has been reliant on schools agreeing to host troops, and that 12 of the 26 public 91直播 County elementary schools — Konawaena, Waikoloa, Waimea, Honokaa, Paauilo, Kalanianaole, Keaukaha, Keaau, Mountain View, Keonepoko, Chiefess Kapiolani, and Holualoa — and Ka Umeke Kaeo Charter School have agreed to be a site for troops so far.
“We have a July 28 start date,” Naone said of the new hires, who will be funded by grants and donations to GSH.
“We didn’t want to miss out on the school year and a whole entire cohort of girls missing out on STEM, outdoors, life skills and entrepreneurship. We want to be in every school on Big Island.”
The COVID-19 pandemic caused a significant drop in the number of Girl Scouts throughout the state due to school closures eliminating many of the primary troop gathering places, Naone and Premo said. Naone said there were close to 4,000 Girl Scouts statewide before the pandemic.
Local troop leader Premo, who grew up as a Girl Scout herself in Southern California, said she was eagerly waiting for her daughter to turn 5, the youngest age a girl can be at sign up to be a Girl Scout, to begin leading troops. Premo started 10 years ago leading just six girls in Puna, but today she leads 21 girls in Hilo, though she said she faced ongoing challenges of finding meeting locations until New Hope Church provided a site to her.
“We’re trying to get back to where we were before COVID,” Premo said. “After COVID, it was a struggle, just finding the churches or schools or community parks, wherever we can meet. I would take 50 girls if I had the space, but the meeting space really determines how many girls I can take on. During COVID, I had them all in my driveway. I never stopped having the meetings.”
Premo said she feels lucky that her role as a stay-at-home mom has allowed her to commit the 20 to 30 hours per week required of troop leaders, who are tasked with organizing excursions and activities that would appeal to girls between the ages for kindergarten and high school.
The lack of parents with such availability is why GSH sought the new hires to fill in the leadership gaps and make more troops possible, Naone said.
“Every year, we have a long waitlist of girls who want to become Girl Scouts, but no nearby troop to place them and no volunteer willing to lead a new troop,” Naone said in a press release about the hires. “It’s time to evolve and meet families where they are understanding that in 91直播 the majority of families need two incomes and don’t have a lot of free time to volunteer.”
Naone said Girl Scouts troop activities follow the four “pillars” of outdoors, entrepreneurship, life skills and STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) that have guided the 91直播 branch since it was founded in 1917, five years after the national organization was introduced.
The entrepreneurship skills girls learn through their popular cookie sales helps fund the troops, allowing them to do “destination” trips like the one Premo was able to organize for her girls last month to Alaska.
“We raised money by selling cookies, washing cars and garage sales to take the girls to Alaska,” Premo said. “I wanted them to earn badges we don’t offer in 91直播, like the gold panning and arctic survival. I never stop looking for those unique experiences and opening up the doors to girls who don’t have access to those experiences.”
Email Kyveli Diener at kdiener@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
