Jamboree DEI merchandise is for sale—and it's historic

This summer’s National Jamboree is rapidly approaching, which means it’s almost time for everyone’s favorite part of Scouting events: The patches.

Anyone who’s been to a Jamboree—or heck, even a local camporee—has seen the fierce patch-trading market that sprouts up at these gatherings. And this year, the merch-obsessed have one more reason to be excited: A historic set of patches related to the diversity, equity and inclusion programming at the Jamboree.

As I reported a few weeks ago, the 2023 Jamboree will include an intentional focus on DEI, which is itself a milestone for the BSA: It’s the first time a Jamboree will host official community spaces for scouts of color, women in scouting and LGBTQ+ and allied scouts.

And each of those community spaces comes with some official swag to match. You can view the whole collection on the Jamboree trading post page. There are shirts, quarter-zips, hats, neckerchiefs and, of course, patches.

You need not be a Jamboree attendee to buy the merch; anyone can purchase and wear these items on their uniform. And it’s worth mentioning: This is also the first time that the BSA has authorized the production of an LGBTQ+ rainbow patch that is fully approved for uniform wear.

Dwayne Fontenette, Jr., who is leading the Jamboree’s DEI team, advises scouters to get their orders in ASAP to guarantee availability. Proceeds from these merchandise sales go directly to supporting the DEI programming at the event.

And if you missed my interview with Fontenette—which includes all the details about what the Jamboree community spaces will look like—you can read it here.