OaklandAndy

I didn't realize it was no longer available. I thought it was still an earnable award for all. I know it replaced the International Activity and Youth Exchange Award.

I thought everyone did the retired adventures anyways? We typically finish the required ones fairly quickly and we let them pick whichever ones that want, retired or not. If there is no loop, we make/give them a creative handmade craft in it's place.

KIS(S)

"allegedly failed to report financial statements."... An often heard reasoning from any government. "The assets of the banned organizations will be confiscated by the Nicaraguan government." I wonder how much will be left if these NGO's clear their name.

Not the worst thing in the world. It's not like it's too difficult to complete. I know it has been suggested to our council that all unregistered parents who attend C/P weekends must have YPT as well. Easy to say, harder to enforce.

I agree with this. There is a ton to the scouting program and you don't know what you don't know. On the other hand, when I was a new leader I took it upon myself to familiarize myself with Scoutbook, which led to me to all these awards, which led me to research. There HAS to be some type of proactivity on the volunteers side as well, or at the very least, show them where to look.

I was afraid the time would finally come when I wouldn't be considered a young adult anymore.

This is the answer to all these ridiculous changes right here. It's all about CYA with the BSA National nowadays. CYA and vague answers.

My direct supervisor tried doing this to me when I worked at the council and put it right back in her face after I showed her the factual timeline of how things actually played out. That in itself was catalyst for me to look for another career. She was the sweetest, hardest working lady in the whole office and if the office culture turned her into that, I knew that it would happen to me. That's why I left and work for a community college now.

Our SE has a good head on his shoulders, it's more the DE's that continue to drop the ball more than anything. I also noticed that "good ol' boy system with the council volunteer positions....they want the title but none of the work.

BSA already has a hard time retaining members/volunteers, let alone employees. Not surprised that it would be easier to displace the problem then get rid of it. I'm sure if it was a liability issue, yeah absolutely they'd be gone. But if they are just running a council into the ground, they'll move them elsewhere like you said.

You can set up a group Discord. I used that a lot with my summer camp staff when I was a camp director. Easy to manage and supervise. Most youth know and use that app.

I think a lot of us had this opportunity after covid.

I found that giving them a purpose helps. From what I've seen from other units, a leader gets trained and then what they learned remains with the card they hold and doesn't go any further. Whenever I have a leader, or trying to encourage a leader, to go to training, I have them use what they learned right away. Whether it's leading a segment with the scouts or even the adult parents. We, too, pay for our leaders but that's never going to be enough if I don't tell them how that training will benefit them, the unit, and how they are going to be using it soon after the training is completed

Yes and working on the MOP program and the same time since they share the same international objectives. I appreciate you're assistance!

Our Pack is actually starting this at the beginning of 2024. I didn't even know about it until I was doing some research on different awards for our scouts. I doubt the councils even know much about it either. I'm hoping we can bring more awareness to it and other units will participate.

Council insurance went up anywhere between 3%-5% across the country for the upcoming year. Our council has to pay national something like $65,000 just for recharter, hence our fee going up. Council's are trying to survive too, but it's hard when National raises rates for everyone....scouts, volunteers, mbc, councils, etc.

Yep, no one. Some superintendents have decided for all schools in a county that no outside organization is allowed. Doesn't matter if it's the fire department, scouts, or any other organization. It's crazy that they would throw away so many resources, but then you have groups like that Satanic After School club trying to get in your school as well. But that's another story.

Come recharter, there will be on 2 packs and 1 troop left in our rural county. 1 pack has 8, the other 51.

Very true. The loophole is if we don't let anyone do anything, then we can say no to everyone, including scouting.

This goes for volunteers as well. Sometimes they can be just as bad.

On top of that, higher positions aren't available for DE's like there used to be. After the lawsuit, everyone had to cut positions and "do more with less". Instead of spending 3-4 years as a DE, there are waiting 5-7 years just for a spot to open up to get promoted.

I had this issue with the parents as well, not so much with our DL's. I had the DL's take all the scouts outside for activities while the parents stayed inside. I sat on the stage and told them we needed to have a heart to heart. After letting them know if we don't get more consistent support/involvement, this would be my last year. Apparently that was enough because at the end of the meetings I had 1 new DL, 3 Asst. DL's, and 3 new Comm. Members. Had they not stepped up, I would've walked and the Pack would probably folded over time. The whole experience was becoming too stressful

This is as of Oct '23.

That depends on the geographic area I would think. My parents in my pack had no idea there was a lawsuit going on until I told them about it (I'm very transparent about things that go in in the scouting world). They didn't seem to care either since our program is pretty safe. It could be our small-town community feel though.