Restoring the Village

Thursday, September 18, 2025 - 2nd Annual Restoring The Village Event!

The Gulf Stream Council, Scouting America, cordially invites you to support and attend our 2nd
Annual Restoring the Village Event on Thursday, September 18, 2025, at 6:00 p.m., hosted at the Riviera Beach Marina Village Event Center, 200 E. 13th Street, Riviera Beach, FL 33404.

This special evening will honor exceptional community leaders and organizations with national awards, recognizing their outstanding support of Scouting in rural, underserved, and urban communities. This year, we are honored to feature Robert L. Johnson, Founder and Chairman of RLJ Companies, LLC, as our guest speaker. Mr. Johnson is a pioneering entrepreneur and business leader with ventures in hotel real estate, private equity, 401(k) fintech services, automobile dealerships, content streaming, and sports betting. Prior to forming RLJ Companies, Mr. Johnson founded and served as Chairman of Black Entertainment Television (BET), the nation’s first Black-owned cable television network, transforming media and becoming one of the most influential figures in American business.

We invite individuals, businesses, and community partners to support Scouting through your sponsorship and attendance at the event. Your attendance and sponsorship directly fund programs that build leadership, character, self-esteem, and life skills in young people, especially in communities where opportunity is most needed. Your contributions are essential to sustaining the mission of Scouting and empowering the next generation of leaders.

By sponsoring or attending the Restoring the Village Event, you also help us expand our reach and
deepen our impact. We hope you will join us in championing this mission and making a lasting
difference in the lives of youth across our region. Stand with us. Support the mission. Help restore
the village.

If you have any questions please contact Bianka Cullen, Development Director at bianka.cullen@scouting.org or 561-694-8585

Restoring the Village Focus

The Gulf Stream Council's initiative to extend Scouting's reach to all youth encompasses Belle Glade and Riviera Beach, and within the area of our youth served in Florida, where many promising individuals face daunting challenges. These difficulties, including poverty, violence, crime, gang involvement, and limited parental engagement, significantly impede their prospects for future success, perpetuating a cycle of despair across generations.

Our mission is to forge a meaningful alliance among Scouting, community leaders, and at-risk youth, empowering young people in struggling neighborhoods with essential values, resources, opportunities, and mentors to cultivate a brighter future for themselves and their communities.

Our Solution involves the Restoring the Village initiative, which aims to alter young people's perspectives by offering a more fulfilling alternative to the transient excitement and enduring hardship associated with street life. While traditional Scouting units often rely on parental volunteers for leadership, Restoring the Village adapts to the realities of single-parent households by engaging positive community figures as volunteers. These leaders, supported by scouting professionals, impart crucial life skills, outdoor experiences, career readiness, a dedication to community service, and a positive mindset, instilling in their charges the ethos of being "Prepared. For Life."