A preview of the Scouts of Color space planned for NOAC
"We need to make sure that everyone feels like they have a space here, and that they can bring their whole selves to the space,” says lead adviser Rodrigo Córdova Rosado.
With just a couple weeks left before the National Order of the Arrow Conference, I’m highlighting one final affinity space: Scouts of Color.
If you missed it, I’ve already highlighted the ArrowPride and Women in Scouting spaces, as well as the Scouts with Disabilities space.
This week, I spoke with Rodrigo Córdova Rosado, lead adviser for the Scouts of Color space, to learn about what they have planned.
When Córdova thinks about flagship events like NOAC, he thinks about the messages they send to scouts. These events — who and what is included — communicate more broadly who is invited to take part in the BSA and the OA.
“Whoever comes to the events and the programming … we need to make sure that everyone feels like they have a space here, and that they can bring their whole selves to the space,” Córdova told me.
That’s especially crucial for communities that have been historically excluded from the BSA. “We all come with this baggage of the culture and society that has said for a long time, it’s okay to discriminate,” Córdova said. “The reason why we have a Scouts of Color space specifically is because we know there has been systemic barriers to the full participation of nonwhite folks in not only Scouting, but broadly in opportunities that engage people with nature.”
The Scouts of Color affinity space is one way to move the organization in a new direction.
“One of the great things about the affinity spaces that we’re making … is to make sure we consciously build space for everyone to feel comfortable in,” Córdova said.
So, that’s the vision. But what will delegates actually see when they walk into the space?
There will be some amount of passive programming every day in the space. In one area, scouts will be able to take Polaroid photos of themselves and hang them on the wall. In another, a map of the country and the world will invite scouts to add pushpins indicating where they and their families are from, and weave them together with yarn. And if delegates simply want to hang out, there will be snacks, playing cards and games aplenty.
On top of that, Scouts of Color will be putting on a few events throughout the week. Tuesday and Thursday will feature roundtable discussions — one for youth, one for adults — on “leading and advising in color.”
Wednesday’s lunch-and-learn session will invite delegates to a panel discussion with prominent Scouting leaders of color, discussing how they’ve approached their identities in those roles.
In the afternoons each day will be a rotating set of fellowship hours: one for the Black community, one for Hispanic and Latino scouts, and one for Asian and Pacific Islander delegates. Each one will have culturally-specific food and music.
Similarly, each demographic group will be invited to come take a conference-wide group photo throughout the week.
At Friday’s conference festival, the Yokahu Lodge of Puerto Rico — Córdova’s home lodge — will bring instruments to play Puerto Rican music, while offering to teach folks how to dance salsa, merengue and bachata.
“That’s going to be our big blowout event,” Córdova said.
Ultimately, all of this combined is meant to extend an active invitation to scouts of color to be a part of the OA and BSA. Córdova hopes to move away from past framings of “tolerance” and “acceptance,” toward something more intentional: A space where every facet of who they are is invited.
“What I hope everyone who comes into our space [is that] they leave with a sense that they’re not alone,” Córdova said.
