Back to basics
Scouting is the original organized-youth activity, having served young people for nearly 120 years. It began in 1907, when Robert Baden-Powell led an experimental camp on Brownsea Island in England. His program of outdoor skills, small patrols, and service spread around the world within a few years. In 1966, the United Kingdom's scouting association published the Advance Party Report, which transformed scouting into a broad youth development program. Scouting lost some of its focus on wilderness skills. Scouters who wanted to keep the original outdoor program formed the Baden-Powell Scouts' Association in the United Kingdom in 1970. Their approach became known as back-to-basics scouting: small groups, the patrol system, skill badges, and as much time in the wild as possible. In 1996, independent associations from many countries formed the World Federation of Independent Scouts (WFIS), which connects these groups worldwide and lets them camp together across borders.
The girls at Crystal Palace
In 1909, thousands of scouts gathered at the Crystal Palace in London for the movement's first rally. Among them was a group of girls in uniforms they had sewn themselves. They declared themselves Girl Scouts and demanded a place in the movement. Baden-Powell's sister Agnes founded the Girl Guides in 1910, and his wife Olave later became World Chief Guide and carried Guiding to millions of girls around the world. The push has continued ever since, and today many, if not most, scouting organizations outside the United States are co-ed. Scouting has always held many currents within it, including welcoming and forward-thinking leaders and youth, a tradition the OSG proudly carries forward today.
An American association
Wilderness scouting reached the United States in 2006, when volunteers founded our association under its original name, the Baden-Powell Service Association (BPSA). BPSA was co-ed from its founding: girls and boys have always camped, hiked, and earned badges side by side in our association, and families of every faith and of none have always been welcome. In the early 2010s, the association grew as families across the country looked for a scouting program open to everyone. BPSA welcomed lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) scouts, parents, and leaders, and its groups marched in pride parades in cities across the country, a tradition that continues today. The current that ran through Crystal Palace runs through our association. BPSA has always been independent of other American scouting organizations and counts them as friends in scouting.
A new name
In 2020, members voted to set aside the founder's name after reflecting on his legacy, and in 2021 the association became Outdoor Service Guides. The name states what members value: the outdoors, service, and guiding the next generation, a nod to the movement Agnes and Olave Baden-Powell built. OSG kept its badges, its uniform, its WFIS membership, and its promise of Scouting for Everybody.
OSG today
2026 marks OSG's 20th year. The association has 40 active groups across the country and more than 1,000 youth members. Groups run sections for every age: Chipmunks and Otters for the youngest scouts, Timberwolves for elementary-age scouts, Pathfinders for teens, and Rovers for adults. The program remains what it was in 1907: real outdoor skills, service to the community, and scouts leading scouts.
Scouting in Jersey City
The 16th Wilderness Ramblers is Jersey City's OSG group. We meet in downtown Jersey City, camp at Cheesequake State Park and Stokes State Forest, and run the Timberwolf program for youth ages 7 to 11, with the whole family welcome at camp. If you are searching for scouting in Jersey City or for an alternative scouting program that welcomes everyone, we would love to meet you. Express interest here.
