Gerald Stansbury, president of Maryland State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, recently signed a partnership with the Boy Scouts to attract boys from the city to Scouts.

Stansbury is asking for donations to help pay for uniforms for boys who can’t afford them, and for transportation. Donations can be sent to: Baltimore Area Council of the Boy Scouts of America, 701 Wyman Park Drive, Baltimore, Md., 21211.

What are your goals for the partnership? Our major goal is to try to get boys in the inner city and Baltimore metropolitan area interested in the Boy Scouts rather than the gangs.

What were your experiences growing up? Were you a Boy Scout? I was in the Boy Scouts and I spent three weeks at Broad Creek [Memorial Scout Reservation in Harford County]. It was an experience I’ll remember for the rest of my life, and once we get these boys involved, I think it will be the same for them.

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What are the challenges to making the partnership a success? People don’t see the Boy Scouts as this big, tough thing — they see it as a little chumpy. But once we get across that hurdle, we’ll be OK. We need mentors, we need to get the churches involved. I’ve had several calls already about people wanting to get a Boy Scout troop started.

How popular is Scouting in the city? This is really growing and I’m very excited about it, and I think the community will be excited about it. We need to give opportunities to our youth. Think about it: service, do a good turn daily. Some very positive things can come out of this.