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Two Councils May Merge


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To sum it all up  what is truly wrong with the scouting program today begins and ends at the National Office, the CSE, and the unprepared and incompetent  SE's they are placing in the field,  many of

“At the core of these discussions is the understanding that above all, we want to create a sustainable program providing a better scouting experience for our youth.†said William Kline, Council Pre

My Council has about 1200 Boy Scouts and 1000 Cub Scouts. Total membership is less than 3800. We have a great program and two well-run camps (by volunteers). Our school system gave us the boot a long

My Council has about 1200 Boy Scouts and 1000 Cub Scouts. Total membership is less than 3800. We have a great program and two well-run camps (by volunteers). Our school system gave us the boot a long time ago which seriously impacted our abilities to recruit. Until a few years ago, the Executive Board and untis continued to beat their heads against the wall of the school board and did not look at new ways to recruit. We have made a lot of progress working around the school board and doing more non-traditional recruiting efforts. Other than small membership, our JTE scores were better than most of the Councils in our area which include Jacksonville, Orlando, Miami and Tampa.

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There are other councils smaller than Marin in terms of membership.

And as far as richest...don't believe everything you hear.

 

I'm referring to per capita income, and yes, I could be wrong.  Enlighten me.

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I'm referring to per capita income, and yes, I could be wrong.  Enlighten me.

 

I don't think per capita income translates in to how well a council is funded, does it? I don't know so this is a serious question.

 

My cousin lives near national. His council is reported to have tons of cash on hand. His district is in a VERY affluent part of the city, yet they have the same challenges funding and staffing events as I do way up here in God's Country.

 

I'd also be curious as to how council size, location and other factors play in to the funding mechanisms for councils...if at all.

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I don't think there are any standards, no.  The smallest council I'm aware of is Marin County, but they're also the richest.  I doubt there will ever be a merger involving them.  The huge councils are North Dakota and Montana.  Not enough people to split them up.  Camps and roundtables could easily call for an overnighter. 

 

 

Ahhh you are speaking to my council :)  Northern Lights council to be exact.  You forgot northwest Minnesota and 2 counties in South Dakota as well.  but i'll let that pass!  hahaha

 

According to our last annual report we have 6,917 Cub Scouts, 2,356 Boy Scouts, 534 Venturers, 1476 Exploring/Learning for Life Participants.

 

Total Available Youth 89,517: with 11,283 youth as members giving us a 10.95% of youth served in 397 Units.

 

 

I don't know how this relates to the conversation, or compares to the rest of the country. but its rare i see anyone mention our council and felt i wanted to spread the love!

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  • 5 months later...

You can add Gulf Ridge Council based in Tampa, FL and West Central Florida Council based in Seminole, FL to the list of mergers. Neither is in debt or crisis. Both are stable with sizable endowments. A vieled threat from National has been persistent and WCFC being smaller geographically and membership has capitulated. Final vote by the CORs will be in March with corporate paperwork done by June. Hopefully the result is better and more program. Too bad we dpn't have a plan other than "this will be great and our volunteers will love it". I say that as a Board member of WCFC.

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You can add Gulf Ridge Council based in Tampa, FL and West Central Florida Council based in Seminole, FL to the list of mergers. Neither is in debt or crisis. Both are stable with sizable endowments. A vieled threat from National has been persistent and WCFC being smaller geographically and membership has capitulated. Final vote by the CORs will be in March with corporate paperwork done by June. Hopefully the result is better and more program. Too bad we dpn't have a plan other than "this will be great and our volunteers will love it". I say that as a Board member of WCFC.

Curious...what was the threat?

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1. If you can in your state, move your council camp(s) into land trusts so neither Council nor National can sell it.

2. Vote NO to merger.

3. Most of scouting is local, keep control local.

 

Good luck, resistance is not futile. Some councils have voted NO.

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  • 2 months later...

The threat from National was to pull the Council charter or reduce it's geography to an unsustainable level. My comments were that they would be stupid to do that because it would just inflame and cause a mutiny with volunteers and parents. Unfortunately not having the benefit of a Council website or email system, the opposition was squelched. Honestly, the available volunteer pool has been shrinking making it more difficult to recruit and then offer program. The Region wanted a merger done a few years ago and when WCFC rejected it we were given conditional charters for 2 years as punishment.

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To sum it all up  what is truly wrong with the scouting program today begins and ends at the National Office, the CSE, and the unprepared and incompetent  SE's they are placing in the field,  many of whom are bankrupting the councils they are assigned to instead of building them up and making them successful.

Edited by BadenP
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To sum it all up  what is truly wrong with the scouting program today begins and ends at the National Office, the CSE, and the unprepared and incompetent  SE's they are placing in the field,  many of whom are bankrupting the councils they are assigned to instead of building them up and making them successful.

 

If their training for the CSEs is like their adult volunteer training, the first module is "Make Council Successful". The sole content being "Go and make the council successful."

 

That was their "Get more minorities to join Scouting" training. In a nutshell they said "Go get more minorities to join Scouting."

 

Why didn't we think of that?  :rolleyes:

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  • 1 month later...

You can add Gulf Ridge Council based in Tampa, FL and West Central Florida Council based in Seminole, FL to the list of mergers. Neither is in debt or crisis. Both are stable with sizable endowments. A vieled threat from National has been persistent and WCFC being smaller geographically and membership has capitulated. Final vote by the CORs will be in March with corporate paperwork done by June. Hopefully the result is better and more program. Too bad we dpn't have a plan other than "this will be great and our volunteers will love it". I say that as a Board member of WCFC.

I was wondering what was going on. Really not much news coming out on how this gonna affect things--I keep hearing 'no change, no change at all' which beggars the question 'why do it?". Now the new Tampa Bay Regional Council will have a huge service area. I do not like that I hear rumors that the two OA Lodges will have to merge.

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Tampa,

 

    Yes the two lodges will merge.

 

    We recently went through a district split, and were hoping the one chapter would remain to serve both districts. We barely had the basic committees staffed with youth and advisers. OH YEAH, they demanded that the chapter split immediately. We advisers and youth tried to explain, but nobody would listen. We were told that this decision came from national OA. Both new chapters were forcefully created.They never had a chance. GREAT MOVE national OA! Thanks for listening to your members.

 

sst3rd

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Since our lodge doesn't have any chapters I'd be surprised if "national OA" had anything at all to say about whether your chapters split, combined or did somersaults.  How would National even know if there was something going on vis a vis a chapter.  Whenever anybody tells you "national said" claim you're from Missouri.  Show Me.  National BSA cares a lot about a few things, and not at all about most things, they are never going to get into the weeds about something like that.

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