k80sill

On 7/2/2020 at 5:46 AM, dkurtenbach said:

Another sad reminder that the only way to grow Scouting is organically:  strengthening existing units so that they grow and give birth to strong new units that grow.  And the only way that happens is through active, high-performing units with strong outdoor programs.  Those units attract and retain youth without gimmicks and without flavor-of-the-week activities.  If BSA at all levels would stop tinkering with the program content and new faddish programs and focus on improving delivery of the existing program by existing units, membership will grow.  

Do you have specific examples of programs you consider "faddish" or "flavor-of-the-week" activities? How do they detract from the goals of scouting? 

On 7/1/2020 at 9:22 PM, Jameson76 said:

Between the BoyPower ManPower deal and the ISP, there was a double whammy during  70 - 81.  Pretty sure the Scouting program in the USA never fully recovered and found it's way again. 

National leadership kept looking for the golden ring, the next best thing, the silver bullet.  They never understood that they had the best program and that fun with a purpose was what kids wanted

This struck me as particularly interesting. Could you please elaborate more on this insight? 

On 7/1/2020 at 1:30 PM, Jameson76 said:

On October 17, 1968, the Boy Scout organization launched a new membership initiative called “Boypower 76.” The ambitious program set national goals to be achieved by the US Bicentennial Celebration of 1976. Specifically,

(1) Expand membership so that one of every three American boys is enrolled. That would require adding 2 million new Boy Scouts by 1976.

(2) Double council budgets to a combined level of $150 million.

New members would be recruited through two efforts: establishing troops in inner cities and retaining older boys by allowing girls to participate in the special-interest, career-focused segment of the Explorers program. 

The national slogan for Boypower 76 was “America’s Manpower Begins with Boypower.” 

Membership Quotas

Councils were given strict monthly and annual membership goals to keep them on track to achieve the expansion envisioned in Boypower 76. 

The Controversial Collapse of Boypower

BSA canceled the Boypower program two years early, amid widespread reports of inflated membership numbers.  Articles in the New York Daily News, the Central New Jersey Home News, and many other newspapers enumerated the problems. The Chicago council was accused of selling one-month memberships for ten cents; other councils for inventing names to register. At least 13 major cities were discovered to have falsified records, involving some 30,000-40,000 “phantom” scouts.

Furthermore, only about half of the $65 million fundraising goal was met, and much of that was from long-time donors who directed their gifts to the national organization instead of the local council.

This is all very interesting, where did you get this information?

On 7/1/2020 at 2:19 PM, carebear3895 said:

Ah, the ole "phone book" method. My SE told me stories about the old days. Makes you wonder if Scouting truly ever was as big as the old records show. 

What did your SE tell you? Do you still remember some of the details?

7 minutes ago, RememberSchiff said:

@k80sill  on behalf of scouter.com moderators welcome.

Searching Boypower returns numerous earlier discussions. Hopefully

@Jameson76 , @Eagledad ,  and other members  will respond.

Yes, I've seen some of those posts. I was hoping that, by posing the topic again, I would be able to to connect with the people involved in the previous conversations (like the ones you've kindly mentioned). Thank you for helping me bring it to their attention. I wasn't sure who was still active in this forum, as I am relatively new to this site. 

Hello everyone! I am in the process of researching the history of the BSA. I'm having trouble finding information about the Boypower program/initiative from the 1970's. I was wondering if anyone would be interested or willing to share their experiences and memories of this aspect of scouting. Additionally, if you know of any existing resources on Boypower and it's impact on scouting, please point me in the right direction. 

Thank you!