Council Relations
Discuss issues relating to Scout Councils, districts and working with professionals
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LATEST POSTS
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Work at finding liaisons with other youth groups, including maybe church groups and such. Put together a cooperative or two with local outdoor and sporting stores that run programs for climbing and so on. If feasible, work with local professional groups to use the site for spot training opportunities. Make serious cooperative out reach to local colleges and schools to develop teaching sites at the camp. All things that could be workable, or so it seems to me. Setting rates would need to be fair, and not made to maximize any profit The main thing would be to simply keep trying new ideas and finding cooperative options Corporate weekends might be offered where they could use the sites for company gatherings. The goal woould be to make the property viable, but also to have the community see it as an option. Working with unions might be viable, both in the city and at camp facilities. Union does training at the camp and the camp gets things fixed professionally. Be creative, and if it does not pan out, try other things. Some camps may have the type of location to grow Christmas trees, so that becomes part of the prograam and support. If the camps have unique locations with interesing geograpy, or in our case a fscsimile fort, offer it for movie sets; maybe even incorporate it as part of the MB program to do that. Keep that "can't" at bay. -
Specifically what adjustments would you make? -
"As a business the camp is a sunk cost that councils have to pay to maintain and monitor 365. " And here is where some relatively easy adjustments could make huge differences. Weak, or political proxies on a Council BOD is useless. A SE or as seems not the name local CEO, who has little or no concern for the actual membership is a waste of expense and also of time. Scouting has always, in theory been a Community based organization, as its history shows, and it early connection with the YMCA, etal proves. As many training courses, local, and at PTC have suggested; you will get little help from others if you do not ask. But asking just for money is likely a poor method. Community respect, visible viability of local units, and yes, in this case, making real outreach to the broader community to "share" the facilities often donated in early days by people that cared. People mostly still care, especially those that recognize the sad media focus on negative, and find ways to show otherwise, or that it is being worked on for a better way, and a safer way; one that can be a model outside the Scouting families.
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Brad Tilden made several speeches last year about this. National knows this. I remember Brad saying basically "No airline flies a plane with 1 or 2 passengers and only once in a while." A lot of camps sit empty 40 weeks out the year without program, nay, it might be MOST camps sit empty 40 weeks out of the year without program. Additionally, every council I am aware of does a horrible job of getting units to camp the 40 or so unused weekends year. As a business the camp is a sunk cost that councils have to pay to maintain and monitor 365.
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While the expense issue may have feet, it is not totally accurate. The facility has proven useful and viable over more recent times. Will it recoup its cost; that is up to those who can think outside the boxes. Most camps, once outfitted with basic needs, can be used for many things besides camping or special programs. And there seems no reason, other than attitude or bias to somehow not offer the space and facilities to outside groups, both as ways to offset expenses, but also as effective utilization of facilities and structures. It might take a while, but it can and should reach a balance. The same thing seems common to many council camps that have fallen or barely hanging on. The local council has upkeep issues, especially as the facility gets older. But, while the have, for example, say a high level climbing wall, it is standing unused more often than used. Iff a program of cooperative use with local climbing groups and maybe even schools were to be developed, it could becaome a viable resource and improve all parties programs. A camp has kitchen and dining hall that is used during Council activities, but often sits unused. Could a local area cooking school perhaps use it for training in the off-season? Could that same school fill a summer need as well that is often a real struggle? The camp is located relatively near seasonal outdoor opportunities; could it be rented out when not used by the council, allowing more people to experience the winter sports and so on? We come back to the missed opportunity position far too often. Would the ideas work; probably with proper planning and follow. But someone says "can't", or we do not have the sources, or other excuses, so the facility ages and disappears. Not only is this ignorance, but it is lost opportunity. Some camps also could be used by the FS for training locations, though currently our misguided (my opinion) leadership is doing all it can to decimate the FS and Parks. Our now lost camp a decade or two back became a six week + basecamp for a major wildfire fight. They took over the whole facility and it proved viable and also put our camp and council in a good light. FS for a long time came as part of the Fire Safety skills program in the summer, bringing trucks and tools to share and demonstrate. But could the site have also been an option regularly for training how to fight the fires, even for non Scouting people? So many times "Can't" is the answer, and nobody challenges that. Our lost camp was built by local groups who felt the Scouting program needed the
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