The Outdoor Service Guides (OSG) (formerly known as the Baden-Powell Service Association (BPSA)) is an inclusive, co-ed scouting organization in the United States. It accepts scouts without regard to gender, gender identity, race, sexual orientation, economic circumstances, religion (or no religion), or other differentiating factors. OSG is a member of the

World Federation of Independent Scouts The World Federation of Independent Scouts (WFIS) is a non-governmental international Scouting organization with over 7 million members in 151 affiliated Scout organizations in 65 countries. WFIS was formed in Laubach, Germany Germany ...

(WFIS).

History

Outdoor Service Guides formed under its original name with an adult-only component, Rovers, in 2006. Youth sections were introduced in 2008 by David Atchley, an

Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest achievement or rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle S ...

in the

Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded ...

, who had been asked to leave his local Greater St. Louis Area Council after attempting to create a non-discrimination policy for his Cub Scout pack. Atchley became commissioner of BPSA the following year. By 2011, the association had a handful of units. BPSA reincorporated in 2012 and added 35 more groups between 2011 and July 2013. In January 2013, a chapter was founded in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York with 45 members, while a group in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

with 80 members and 30 registered leaders was founded that same month. In 2014, after a

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

United Methodist Church’s Boy Scout troop charter was revoked for having a gay leader, the troop moved to join BPSA. , BPSA had 70 operating groups and a membership of approximately 2,500 scouts. This was an increase from 1,600 in April 2016. On June 28, 2020, BPSA held a large meeting of invested members and leaders, and concluded that the organization needed a change of name to distance itself from some of the negatives in Baden-Powell's legacy. A new name (Outdoor Service Guides or OSG) was chosen and announced officially announced on May 29, 2021.

Program

Outdoor Service Guides is part of the world-wide

Traditional Scouting Traditional Scouting is "old-fashioned" or "back to basics" Scouting in some form, often with an emphasis on woodcraft and scoutcraft activities. As a pluralist movement, there is no one set definition for the term, but most traditionalists share ...

movement designed to return Scouting to the basic principles laid out by Baden-Powell in 1907. OSG Otters and Timberwolves use a two finger salute same as

Cub Scouts Cub Scouts, Cubs or Wolf Cubs are programs associated with Scouting for young children usually between 7 and 12, depending on the organization to which they belong. A participant in the program is called a Cub. A group of Cubs is called a 'P ...

. An OSG scout group is composed of up to five sections as follows: * Chipmunks (ages 2 to 4) * Otters (ages 5 to 8) * Timberwolves (8 to 11) * Pathfinders (11 to 17) * Rovers (18+) Each section is led by a section leader and assistant section leaders (who are also Rover scouts themselves), and the group is led by a Group Scoutmaster (also a Rover) and supported by an Auxiliary Committee, which assists the group in matters of finance, registrations, acquiring equipment, finding community-service opportunities, publicity, and so on. OSG's highest award for Pathfinders is the George Washington's Scout Award. The highest award for Rovers is the

Baden-Powell Award The Baden-Powell Award, also known as the B-P Award or Baden-Powell Scout Award (BPSA), is the highest award achievable to Rover (adult) Scouts. Although it has become a less common award as some Scout Associations no longer offer a Rover progr ...

References

{{Scouting in the United States Youth organizations based in the United States Non-aligned Scouting organizations Scouting in the United States