The Leatherstocking Council, Boy Scouts of America (BSA) is proud to announce it has just received a grant from The Women’s Fund of Herkimer and Oneida Counties to cover registration fees for up to four female Scouts wishing to attend the July 2024 National Advanced Youth Leadership Experience (NAYLE) at the BSA Philmont Scout Reservation and Training Center in Cimarron, New Mexico.

NAYLE in is the ultimate experience where young men and women can enhance their leadership skills through team building, ethical decision-making, problem solving and service to others. The four ladies from the Leatherstocking Council will join dozens of youths from all across the United States. They will be learning innovative new leadership skills amidst the beautiful foothills of Urraca Mesa and Crater Peak. Participants will camp in a team setting that enables them to use their leadership skills to work with people they have just met. Together, they will face and resolve a variety of situations and scenarios presented to them by accomplished leaders from a variety of industries, designed to build on the opportunities our local programs have given them over the years to lead. The week concludes with a closing individual challenge for each Scout to return home and use what they have learned at NAYLE in service to others here in the Mohawk Valley.

According to Janet Richmond, Women’s Fund board president, “The Women’s Fund is honored to provide this new grant to advance local female scouts in the Boy Scouts of America.  My son loved the Scouts and became an Eagle Scout through Leatherstocking Council.  I am so pleased that girls will now have this wonderful opportunity with the Scouts.”

“BSA’s Rayado Ridge Leadership Camp at the Philmont Scout Reservation is one of, if not the greatest high adventure base offered by the Boy Scouts of America,” said Leatherstocking Council executive board president Kirk Evans. “This is a wonderful opportunity for a group of outstanding young female Scouts from our Council. Thanks to The Women’s Fund these young women, who will be selected by a committee of council volunteers, will have the opportunity to attend an excellent program that has proven to teach and motivate attendees to follow a life of leadership based on the values of Scouting.”

Participant outcomes include:

• The skill, ability, and motivation to become a dynamic and effective leader through advanced, practical application of NYLT skills.
• The ability to function well in team or group situations.
• Nationwide resources including new ideas and contacts that can only be gained through the Boy Scouts of America’s marquis leadership training program.
• Personal written commitment to apply NAYLE skills to the benefit of their communities back home.

The Boy Scouts of America has had female Scouts in its ranks since the 1970’s as members of Explorer Posts; however, in 2018, the Boy Scouts began inviting girls to join the 7- to 10-year-old Cub Scouts. In 2019, girls ages 11-17 began pursuing and completing all the necessary requirements to achieve BSA’s highest rank. Today, with approximately two hundred females among its membership, the Leatherstocking Council has already celebrated a dozen young ladies who have become Eagle Scouts over the last five years.

About The Women’s Fund

The Women’s Fund seeks to create economic, educational and personal growth opportunities for women of all ages and to encourage their advancement and full participation in the community.

We accomplish our mission by:

• Supporting critical programs aimed at providing women and girls with job readiness skills, employment opportunities, budget/money management skills, positive parenting education, and life skills necessary to maintain safe, healthy, violence-free lives.
• Offering life changing intervention through Annie’s Fund, a unique fund that provides critical monetary support enabling women to overcome obstacles and crisis.
• Promoting philanthropy through awareness and education events.
• Responding to the urgent and emerging needs of women and their families.
• Publishing reports that provide pertinent information on the status of women and girls in Herkimer and Oneida counties.

 About The Leatherstocking Council, BSA

The Boy Scouts of America is one of the nation’s largest and most prominent values-based youth development organizations. The BSA provides a program for young people that builds character, trains them in the responsibilities of participating citizenship, and develops personal fitness.  For more than a century, the BSA has helped build the future leaders of this country by combining educational activities and lifelong values with fun. The Boy Scouts of America believes — and, through over a century of experience, knows — that helping youth is a key to building a more conscientious, responsible, and productive society. The Leatherstocking Council serves over 1,800 Scouts in Delaware, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Madison, Oneida, Otsego and Schoharie counties. For more information about the Boy Scouts of America Leatherstocking Council, please visit www.leatherstockingcouncil.org

Leatherstocking Council, Boy Scouts of America, 1401 Genesee St., Utica, NY 13501

Phone: (315)735-4437

PLATINUM INVESTORS