21st Century Task Force
Joshua M Feigelson (joshf1@MINERVA.CIS.YALE.EDU)
Wed, 11 Jan 1995 21:44:57 -0500
The 21st Century Task Force project consists of several (I believe it's
5) groups which have met/will meet over a weekend in Dallas. The last two
task force groups are meeting over the next two weekends. There are about
15 members from various Scouting backgrounds in each committee.
In my group were folks such as Richard
Halpern, chair of the national Boy Scout committee; Rees Faulkner,
director of the Boy Scout division; Vaughn Featherstone, a high-up in LDS
and Scouting; Jan Perkins, chair of the national advancement committee;
among others. Youth present were me and Russell Cann, the Southern Region
Chief.
Our group was assigned with brainstorming ideas on the theme: "simplifying
and streamlining our program." We started the session by identifying our
individual visions of Scouting in 20 years and then explored how to get
there. We wound up analyzing Scouting in many areas, and by the end of
the weekend we came up with a list of the top 10 things Scouting needs to
do to remain viable in the 21st century:
1) Implement 20th and 21st century technology
2) reduce demands on Scoutmasters
3) eliminate barriers to serving "underserved" populations
4) elevate the quality of the summer camp experience
5) strengthen our quality designations
6) do a better job of retaining our leadership
7) do a better job of communicating a positive image to the public
8) examine our imagery: logos, terminology, uniforms, etc.
9) determine how we can best communicate to our leadership thru the least
amount of paperwork
10) make high adventure accessible to "every boy"
This is all predicated upon the mission statement of the BSA (if you're
not familiar with it, let me know, but it's based upon all the things you
probably think are in the mission statement of the BSA).
It was a very exciting group to work with, and I expect that the next two
task forces will produce similar results. The findings of each group will
be assembled and presented to the national Boy Scout committee as part of
its strategic planning process at its February meeting.
Hope this stimulates some thought.
Josh
Terry Howerton Sakima Group, Inc. SCOUTER Magazine Kansas City | 
