For today’s Girl Scouts to remain relevant and meet today’s challenges, they must remember their history as an avant-garde movement born before women had the right to vote, says Anna Maria Chávez, CEO of Girl Scouts of the United States.
“We didn’t take the easy path when we started this organization. We met a lot of challenges, but (founder) Juliette knew sometimes you have to push some buttons, sometimes you have to raise your hand and say I don’t necessarily agree,” said Chávez of the 102-year-old organization established by Juliette Gordon Low.
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Chávez spoke to about 100 people at the Planation Club at The Landings during a Women of Influence luncheon sponsored by Wells Fargo Private Bank. Many in the crowd were former girl scouts and current volunteers whose children and grandchildren wear the scouts’ iconic green sash.
Chávez asked those in attendance to remain involved and focus on putting girls first.
“Our vision in the next 10 years is we’re going to grow membership, but we’re going to need your help with that,” said Chávez. “I literally have waitlists of girls across the country who want to be Girl Scouts — in Tampa, there are 1,200 girls on a waitlist — problem is, I can’t find enough adults to volunteer.”
Established in 1912 in Savannah, the Girl Scouts are now a worldwide organization with 59 million alumni and two million current members, many of whom peddle their signature cookie boxes every spring.
Chávez took the helm of the organization more than two years ago, becoming both the youngest CEO in its history and the first Latina.
As with many civic groups, she said, Girl Scout membership has been on a decades-long decline as children today have more options and more time constraints than ever before — from after-school sports to extracurriculars to a host of high-tech distractions.
“I need your help bringing girls’ voices to the community,” said Chávez.
Sue Else, head of the Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia council, said membership had been holding steady at about 19,000, representing 125 counties across the state not including the Atlanta area.
Else said her chapter was committed to increasing its rolls as well.
Chávez has hired a chief information officer to help launch a digital platform to better connect and serve the hundreds of councils across the country. She said an initial survey found that Girl Scout affiliates were using more than 100 different email systems, an example of how the organization needed to streamline.
“Eleven o’clock at night, if you want to volunteer, you should be able to get online, click in and say, ‘OK, I want to be a volunteer in this ZIPcode, at this time, and on this day — we didn’t have that technology six months ago,” said Chávez, who added they were piloting a new program in Minnesota for just that reason.
In recent years, both the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts have been targeted by activists and political groups for various policies surrounding social issues. Chávez posted a video on YouTube last month to reiterate her organization’s commitment to nonpartisanship after anti-abortion activists attempted a boycott of Girl Scout Cookies over the group’s purported political leanings.
“One hundred years later, people have perceptions around our organization and what we should be standing for,” said Chávez. “But I clearly understand that ... if I am not making the case every day for girls, then I am not carrying the torch the way that Juliette wanted us to.”
Chávez said the tone in Washington has become so caustic and partisan, it has made it difficult to teach both boys and girls how to have non-rancorous, bipartisan discourse on important issues that impact them.
A campaign she helped launch with Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, called Ban Bossy, seeks to encourage girls to speak up more and not shy away from leadership roles.
Often, Chávez said, when boys speak up, they are lauded for exhibiting “executive skills” while girls are told to stop “being bossy” and assertive. Chávez said those were the attributes Low herself exhibited.
“It’s interesting to talk to people about our movement, and they’re like, ‘Oh, it’s a very traditional, legacy-based organization,’ but the reality is we were started by a rebel rouser,” said Chávez. “She clearly understood that there was a role for girls in society.”
Chávez also noted that scaffolding had come down and restoration was nearly complete on the Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace, a key cultural landmark in downtown Savannah. To honor Low, she said, the organization must stay committed to youth development.
“Let’s stop treating girls like a problem to be solved rather than an investment to be made,” said Chávez.