Uniforms

Good to hear something positive!!

So, I am at Camp Cherokee in NC and having a blast. Eating well, best camp food I ever had. Thank you .

I agree in that the focus is always on recruitment, not retention. I also think part of the reason for that is that the reasons for poor retention are unpalatable and not what leadership wants to hear. It isn't so much that "bad" units are pushing scouts and families away, it is that the entire organization has become so poorly designed and managed and unworkable that it is very difficult for Scouting America to produce a high quality, consistent product at the unit level whether that's across country let alone across town. The organization needs to re-engineer itself around providing a good product at the unit (parent and scout) level, instead of organizing itself around what has become the Scouting institutionalized monolith. There are so many touchpoints that simply don't work for most parents and kids and there seems to be little recognition of it or appetite for changing anything. 

Don't forget costs. National fees are up. Councils are implementing their fees on top of that. Then uniforms and books. Then activities.

Yep; lots of selfish and greedy people.  Meanwhile, back in the trenches we struggle on to live the Twelve and carry on the Spirit as designed.   ,