JWKnoll

My post was a statement on the facts and possible solutions within the BSA policy. Certainly the couple can discuss what resolution they prefer, but the youth is not in violation of anything and doesn't need to take any action. Assuming the youth wants to stay in the crew, the adult must break off the relationship or step down as a crew leader. Temporarily dropping the adult from the crew roster is a simple way to resolve this. It does not prevent him from participating in any crew activities while the couple continue their relationship. There should be very little, if any, impact o

The adult that is fraternizing is the one that is in violation of the youth protection policy. He should either break off the relationship or resign as a crew leader, assuming the youth wishes to remain a youth member. Old Grey Eagle pointed this out very early in this thread. The CC is responsible for approving adult leaders and the COR is responsible that the charter holder follows the BSA policies. If the CC or COR is aware of the violation, they should take appropriate action, which may mean temporarily removing his membership until the situation changes such that the fraternizatio

First- just a clarification on terminology. There is no such thing as a "Venture Crew" in the BSA. This term was used back in the 80's and 90s before being changed to "Venture Patrol". A Venture Patrol is an optional patrol of older Boy Scouts within a Boy Scout Troop. A Venturing Crew is a separately chartered unit that follows a different program (Venturing), has different methods, leadership organization, membership criteria, advancement program, etc.,etc. Unfortunately the terms are very similar and when used incorrectly can lead to a lot of confusion. The easy way to keep it straigh

High school age youth have a lot of demands on them and not much control over their own schedule, which is mostly driven by coaches, teachers, parents, jobs, etc. Venturing can alleviate some of these issues because there is not the rigid expectation of attendance at weekly meetings and monthly outings. Still, you will need to have a relatively big crew to get reasonable participation level at most activities, as many will have schedule conflicts. First I would recommend you seek out experienced crew advisors in your district or council and get some feedback and advice from them. Revi

As with any unit, it's the chartering organization and unit leaders responsibility to see the methods are carried out, the aims met, and the youth are getting benefit from the program. There are the same issues you stated with Packs, Troops and Teams. Certainly there are struggling crews. Venturing is relatively new and doesn't have the wealth of experienced leaders, commissioners, and professionals that 95 years of Boy Scouting has built up. The fact that each crew many need to put significant effort into developing their program makes crew operations more difficult than Boy Scoutin

A lot of good comments... The council professionals that are confused about the Venturing Program don't report to the Venturing Division, so I don't see how Venturing can be responsible for them. National Venturing provides material and courses. Could there be more and better promotional and training materials? Certainly, but people have to take some initiative to learn, too. National Venturing isn't struggling with Venturing's identity. They know exactly what the Venturing Program is. It is a program for older youth to pursue their interests, grow, develop skills, and become

I don't know anything about grandfathering uniforms. I'm just going by what the Insignia Guide says. It's true that many crews are spawned by chartering organizations using adult leaders experienced in the Boy Scout Program. A crew can, if it chooses, develop their activity program to follow a traditional scouting program. They could chose the BSA Venturing uniform, form patrols, plan an outdoor program, teach scoutcraft skills, emphasize leadership development, work on Venturing's Outdoor Bronze and Ranger awards, etc. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that! The important point

Venturing was rolled out somewhat hastily in Fall 1998 in an attempt to separate what was Exploring into two programs: one that was scouting oriented and had moral membership requirements and another that was career oriented without moral membership requirements. It's true there have been changes, but change is ongoing in all the BSA programs. Venturing is relatively new and most changes have been to move Venturing away from Exploring and Boy Scouting. I don't see any confusion at National Venturing. I agree there is a lot of confusion among long time scouters and professionals, ma

Our council will be hosting a group from England this summer. In talking with one of their leaders, they have apparently changed the name of their Venture Program to Exploring. Kinda ironic as the BSA did somewhat the opposite. There is still an Exploring Program, but it is part of Learning for Life which is not a scouting division. LFL is actually a separate company owned by the BSA. In the BSA, a youth member of a Venturing Crew is called a Venturer, not a Venture Scout. The leaders are crew officers (President, Secretary, Treasurer, and a number of Vice Presidents). Adult members

Perhaps I can help clarify some things. First, there is no such thing as a "Venture Crew". A unit in the Venturing Program is called a "Venturing Crew." Youth members are called "Venturers." Venturing Crews may define their own uniform, if they chose to have a uniform at all. They may choose to use the BSA Venturing Uniform. However, if they do, they must follow the BSA uniforming rules as defined in the Insigina Guide. Green Loops are worn *ONLY* on the (green) BSA Venturing Uniform shirt or blouse - never on the kahki shirt - exactly as the Insignia guide states. No Exceptions.