Ojoman

"The mission of the Boy Scouts of America is to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law.' Having said that, we then need to ask ourselves why do kids want to join and why do parents sign them up? The short answer is that kids want to have fun with friends... parents want their kids in a safe, wholesome environment that will support their family values. The quality of the program experience varies widely from one unit to the next. In a perfect world every pack and troop would offer an outstanding prog

SCOUTREACH is generally an expensive program to run. Often a professional or a 'program aide' is charged with most or all of the steps of organizing and running a unit or units. With the registration fees now as high as they are along with other increased costs it is more and more unlikely that low income kids in inner city neighborhoods will have the opportunity to participate in Scouts. God bless those churches and other chartered partners in those areas that care enough to make the program accessible and affordable. Scouting can help to counter early dropouts, gangs, drugs, adolescent pregn

At our recent district committee meeting we were told we were ahead of last year in membership. Not a difficult thing considering the losses of the past two years. However, for the first time in recent memory we have fewer Cubs than Scouts and that should be a huge red flag. Cubs is a 6 year program (5 1/2) actually but Scouts has generally been targeted at 3 grade levels. Without retention in Cubs, Scouts will continue to decline. As families join this fall, packs must offer programs designed to meet the needs of kids and families. Most packs run a fairly blended program which means that the

The BSA is messed up and not just because the LDS church pulled out and some Law Firms decided to specialize on suing the BSA... Membership losses have been going on for a long time. The controversy over the LGBTQ cost the BSA chartered partners, membership and millions and millions of $$$$. Sadly, all the increased expenses to join and for handbooks and uniforms on top of the other problems will only exacerbate the problem. Cubbing should be less expensive than Scouts BSA in part because it is a conduit for membership. We need to attract more families. Each family represents significant

$23 for a cub scout hat???? go to the dollar store and buy a hat and glue a badge of rank to it... $13 for a neckerchief, make your own silk screen and make your own, $8 for a slide? There are so many ways to make an interesting slide for next to nothing... $41 to change over every year times 5 years is over $200 plus tax... That is B*llsh**t... You can do the same thing for $5 or $6 the first year, less than the tax you would pay over 5 years and use the stuff for all 5 years. Some stuff you have to buy... Annual hats, slides and neckerchiefs are easy to replace with inexpensive personalized

OK, I'm old but in my day, Cubs was gr 3,4 and 5. Cost $1.00 per year. New handbook each year at less than $1.00. Adjusted for inflation would = $10.00. Low and lower middle income families will have a tough time especially if they have multiple kids and/or a parent wants/needs to be a leader. Having a parent sew together the red vest to display badges and wear a neckerchief as a pack uniform could make things a bit easier. Starting a uniform bank/exchange helps too. It's a great program... we need to find ways to get it to more kids/families.

Here in Syracuse NY we have lost 90%+ of our traditional membership since 2000. Covid simply exacerbated the problem. A failure of the council leadership to generate enough funds to maintain the professional staff and other services resulted in mergers and staff cuts which resulted in less support and service to volunteers and a decline in the number of volunteers, units and members. The program nationally started to lose membership in the mid 70's and hasn't seen growth since then except when they lowered the age or added a new program and when you adjust for that there has not been a single

BUILD BACK BETTER While that hasn't worked for Biden or the country it could be a motto for the BSA in growing membership. The first step to fixing any problem is to admit that there is a problem, identify the causes of the problem and go to work on those problems, (underlying issues) My first boss and mentor in professional scouting was Harry Mangle. Also my best boss and mentor. Harry would be shocked and saddened by where the BSA is today. We (the BSA) have lost our connections with our schools (teachers and administrators), lost our relationship with our chartered partners, councils/distri

KISMIF: Keep it simple, make it fun... Check the national videos for ideas or just use those. Show or talk about kids having fun, making friends, earning badges and going on field trips plus camping... Field sports interest most cub age kids, archery and bb ranges are exciting.

At the moment the school district that I live in has 9 elementary schools with enrollments of between 400 and 500 each. We have perhaps 1 pack left while there are enough students for each school to easily support a pack. This is a disaster. There are 10 school districts within our district borders and somewhere between 80 and 100 schools including private and parochial. We have a little over 40 total units in the district and the city schools have a 0% density because the 'Scoutreach' program fell apart years ago. Frankly, I doubt that the council will ever fully recover from a combination of

I went to one of those schools that pumped out college bound students, so did my sons. My oldest decided to go to the BOCE's (vo-tech) and his guidance counselor was so pleased. He said he saw so many kids apply and go off to colleges when it wasn't right for them. The expense and time along with many 'washing out' of college. I read where about 80% of graduates end up in jobs other than their major. My son is now a supervisor and makes good money. Both boys benefited from Scouts... it's a shame when schools deny their students enrichment opportunities through partnerships with groups like Sco

School administrators and teachers are paid with tax dollars. They are public servants and while it is important to avoid disrupting teaching time, announcements or a flyer distribution at the end of the day once or twice a year doesn't seem to me to be a huge disruption. On the equal access act there are only a few (4 or 5) groups that might ever request access. This is not a huge problem. As a taxpayer that is dinged thousands each year to support local schools, I'd surely make my voice heard and I'd encourage other parents and taxpayers to do the same. Meanwhile CRT and other 'stupid' socia

Sad that your council effectively shuts units out from building school relationships especially since National promotes the adopt a school program and encourages as much interaction between school districts, individual schools, administrators, school boards and pto/ptas. Sounds wrong but if that is the way it is... https://www.scouting.org/adopt-a-school/

You have a school board, PTO/PTA and direct access to administration. I have never had a school refuse to talk with me and once they understand the benefits to the kids (we are both in the business of preparing kids for the future and to be good citizens) we were always able to work out a mutually agreeable solution. If even one grade brings in a fireman, EMT or police officer to speak to kids, guess what, that represents an outside group. Many schools bring in people from humane or SPCA groups. It's all about relationships and too often we have let those languish. Correct but often

Several important issues here... First, packs and troops need to be in a symbiotic relationship where they support each other. The best example of that was a pk/tr in the west end of Pittsburgh where the Troop hosted the packs B&G, gave them den chiefs and assisted with other aspects including a tr/ webelos event. The pack hosted the troops annual banquet and court of honor and also attended Eagle presentations. A troop that supports its pack should never 'lose' its pack. As for school recruiting and relationships, that should be the responsibility of the unit leaders and parents. They are

`When we had in person training sessions and Pow Wow training sessions I believe more volunteers understood how to put out a quality program for the kids. Most units lack a knowledgeable commissioner that can assist them. When a Pack is well led the kids/families stay. To be a gold standard unit a pack can drop 25% or more of their membership... 25 x 6 years and you get the picture. nothing left by AOL year. We need to restore quality at all levels of Cubbing and see that the program experiences beyond just the rank requirements grow with the cubs.

The BSA is in bad shape. The first step in fixing a problem is to identify the problem(s).A brief summary of how we got to where we are: nearly 50 years of traditional membership losses, being cast as a bigoted/prejudiced white, middle class organization because of certain 'standards' that no longer formally exist, being cast in recent years as a dangerous place to enroll your kids thanks to the massive lawsuits without regard for the outstanding youth protection standard of the BSA, mergers and consolidations resulting in reductions in service, huge reductions in the number of unit serving pr

The leader/advisor would, of course, need to view the video. The posting would be, in part, promoting the activity and we would hope, Scouting in the process. It is 'optional' so those youths that don't have a social media account can just do the report or post it to a parents social media account such as YouTube. Either way, we want the kids to 'think' about their experience and the historical importance of the Canal. As an adult, I must admit that even having lived in CNY for 15 years I had not given much thought to the canal and its history is quite remarkable. I hope that this award helps

Erie Canal Historic Trail Medal, Patch and Hiking Medallion These are the updated requirements as of now... always subject to change/improvement. Awards/patches/medallions can be ordered via the Longhouse Council, attn: Hillcourt Museum Purpose of this award is to raise awareness of our local history and the role that the Erie Canal played, not only in New York economy but in the Nation’s History. Planning your adventure: The New York State Canal System offers some highly helpful guides to assist your unit or group in planning your adventure at canals.ny.gov. A free Canalway

This sounds really strange... If accurate I feel for the young person with multiple neurological disabilities but if the 'troop' is not part of the BSA then this is not a BSA issue... ("the troop having seceded from the national organization, due to the troop being their own private troop"). No outside group can use our name and insignia without affiliation.

Works for me

Good points... getting the kinks ironed out prior to the kickoff... Thanks

Same thing...

Our council policy involves the use of council range and all shooting sports trained volunteers are part of the council shooting sports committee and there is a modest charge to use the council equipment to help maintain it. Both archery and bb. That way a unit shoot can be done on council property with trained staff and strict controls. Units without trained volunteers are at the mercy of the shooting sports committee if they want to have folks open the range and they are not always available. Off council shooting sports programs are often done at day camps and district events and I see

A few years back we were running BB range training for our Daycamp staffers. Two police officers were taking the training. They said they got some good natured ribbing when the other officers heard they were going to be 'certified' in BB's. Then, when we went to the range and they got the rifles one said to the other, "hey, these have better sights than our guns." At any rate, if the council has a policy that a unit with properly trained volunteers and a safe range can do a unit shoot, go for it... Our council has a policy where the camp bb and archery range and equipment can be used. Re