Leaders of a north Fort Worth Cub Scout Pack plan to invite girls to join their ranks this month as part of an early adopters program of Boy Scouts of America’s decision to include girls at all levels of scouting.

While the Cub Scout program for girls officially rolls out in the fall and a coed program for older scouts won’t be available until 2019, some packs will participate in a pilot program that runs this spring.

Cub Scout Pack 450, which meets at Heritage Church of Christ and involves kids from Heritage Elementary School and the surrounding area, is participating in the pilot program and will offer dens for boys and girls as soon as leaders complete the required training, said Cubmaster Joshua Chick, an adult leader for the group.

“There are very few after-school activities in which the whole family can participate,” Chick said. “We want to be a one-stop shop for the entire family.”

Boy Scouts of America announced this fall that the organization would begin allowing girls to participate in all levels, from elementary kids in Cub Scouts to high school students achieving the highest Eagle Scout rank.

The move to allow girls is an effort to bring more families into the organization, said John Coyle, Scout Executive for the Longhorn Council that covers 23 North Texas counties, including Tarrant.

Membership in Boy Scouts has been on the decline, losing about a third of its membership since 2000, according to media reports.

Chick said participation in their pack has declined this year, with a large group graduating last spring to Boy Scouts. They had more than 80 scouts last spring and 43 in the fall.

Membership in after-school activities in general has been declining, Chick said. He hopes adding girls to the scouting program can help reverse that trend by appealing to a broader audience, not just sisters of current Boy Scouts.

Coyle said that packs must get approval from their charter partners to offer Cub Scouting for girls, along with leaders receiving training in how to run meetings, scout advancement procedures and child safety. Most charter partners are churches while some are service organizations or businesses.

Some packs may choose to remain boys only. For coed groups, members will have coed pack meetings and girls only and boys only dens. Pack 450 meets every Monday night that Keller schools are in session. The whole pack meets once a month while dens consisting of about six to eight kids meet the other three weeks in the month.

Coyle said his office has fielded numerous calls and emails from pack leaders about involving girls, but no one had completed the official application and training as of Jan. 3. Applications are due by Jan. 22, and the council’s membership committee will review them, he said.

Chick said he knows of several families that plan to enroll their girls as soon as the program becomes available. Leaders also want to host an informational “Rally Night” later this month for girls and their parents.

This spring, the pack will offer an accelerated program for girls so they can progress to the next rank in May and move along with their peers next year, Chick said.

Coyle said there’s a lot excitement in the Longhorn Council about the program for girls.

“I’ve seen throughout my career that girls have participated in an unofficial way,” he said. “I always thought girls should be formally recognized. We’re finally going to see that happen.”

Chick noted that most scouting programs around the world have been coed for many years. Some of the interest in the coed program at Pack 450 is coming from former Girl Scouts. Girls and their families wanted more of an outdoor learning focus and less emphasis on fundraising, he said.