SCOUTING AMERICA · MERIT BADGE · TROOP 13
Your town runs on invisible machinery — councils, courts, budgets, volunteers. Today you get the map, the controls, and a seat at the table.
— CESAR CHAVEZ
A community is a group of people in a place who share characteristics, interests, activities, or purposes. As small as a family in an apartment. As big as a metro of a million.
And they nest: you're a citizen of a family inside a neighborhood inside a school zone inside a city inside a county inside a state. The United States is a patchwork of communities.
Rights, duties & obligations of a citizen
Map it + chart who runs it
Attend a council, board, or court session
Track it to a branch + interview a rep
One person CAN change a town
What your taxes actually buy
Volunteer with a charitable org
History, cultures, challenges — your show
COUNSELOR NOTE — Matches the current official requirements. Several stops (3, 4, 7) happen out in the real world — this deck preps, tracks, and debriefs them.
Freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution · full protection of federal, state & local laws · service departments that show up when you dial 911 (or flush).
The must-dos: obey the law · pay taxes · serve on a jury when called. Not optional — it's the membership fee for the rights.
The should-dos: stay informed · vote (at 18) · respect others' right to their opinions · pitch in. Legal to skip. Costly if everyone does.
REQ 1 TALKING POINT — How do you demonstrate good citizenship in your troop? Your school? Your place of worship? Have a real example ready for each.
The pattern: rights are what the system owes YOU, duties are what you legally owe BACK, obligations are what keeps the whole thing alive. Requirement 1, unlocked — now say it in your own words.
Requirement 2a: on a map (paper or phone — Google Maps counts), locate and mark these. Tap what you've found:
0/4 LOCATED
PRO MOVE — Note the distance and travel time from home to each. Bonus: compare a 1900s map of your city to today's. What grew? What vanished?
Look at Memphis's official org chart — the box above the Mayor, the Council, and the Judges is "Citizens of Memphis." The government works for the people. That's not a metaphor; it's the actual chart.
Requirement 3: attend an in-person city/town council or school board meeting — or a session of a municipal, county, or state court.
Public comment (anyone can speak — including, someday, you) · agenda items · debate between members · votes that change real things: budgets, zoning, curfews, park hours.
Democracy looks boring right up until it's YOUR street they're voting on.
That's requirement 4a in disguise: every community issue has an address inside government. Find the right desk, and you know exactly who to interview — and who to email when YOUR street needs fixing.
Requirement 4, the field mission: choose an issue that matters to citizens of YOUR community, then:
Officials talk to Scouts more readily than you'd think — a polite email from a 14-year-old constituent is rare enough to get answered.
Watch one approved film about one person (or a few) changing a whole community — then discuss what you learned with your counselor. Tap tonight's pick:
DEBRIEF QUESTIONS — Who was the citizen? What problem did they see that others ignored? What did it cost them? What's the [your town] version of this story?
TOWN STATUS: EMPTY LOT · tap services to switch them on
Requirement 6: list the services your community provides funded by taxpayers, and explain why they matter.
The trick of good government: when it works, it's invisible. You only notice the water system on the day it breaks. Turn every service on and imagine deleting ONE for a month — which one hurts first?
DISCUSS — Which of these have you used this week without noticing? Who decides how the money is split between them? (Hint: the people from Stop 3.)
Government can't do it all — charitable organizations fill the gaps, powered by volunteers. Requirement 7:
Food banks & pantries · animal shelters · Habitat for Humanity · river/park cleanups · youth sports leagues · senior centers · tutoring programs · community gardens · Red Cross
Pick something you'd do even without the badge — 8 hours flies when you actually care.
Final stop: build a public presentation about what makes your community special — and pitch it like the town hired you to.
Video · slideshow · speech · photo exhibit · digital presentation. If you also did the Photography badge — your photo story skills just became a crossover episode.
Every council seat, every volunteer shift, every jury box, every ballot — filled by ordinary citizens who decided to show up. The pay is bad. The benefits are a community worth living in.
Position available: Citizen. Start date: today. 🚇
deck: AI-generated · org charts & maps: City of Memphis / Shelby County via your counselor · the showing up: all you