How to save a rapidly dying Troop.

[ColorBoomScouting]

I am an ASM and Eagle from a Troop in the Pathway to Adventure Council, a south suburb from Chicago, relatively good area compared to other South Suburban Towns, there used to be a second Troop in our town, which shut down due to low membership at the end of 2022, didn't recharter for 2023. They folded into our Troop, Although a lot of them disliked our Troop and didn't join it (Out of Pettiness), however, I think our Troop might be experiencing the same issues as they are.

We had 40 scouts at our 2018 90th Anniversary Ceremony (We where ridiculously healthy back then), however, now we are down to 9 Active scouts, 2 of which are aging out within the next year, and asides from them the oldest is graduating Junior High School.

The Pack we are feeding out of is dead, I believe they aren't going to recharter for 2026, we share a CO, but we aren't really intertwined, the last group of AOL's has 2 Scouts going to another Troop 20 minutes away, and 1 who wants to join us, but hasn't really been in contact. Without this pack to feed from, it is getting extremely hard to grow, we never really get Scouts from outside anymore, even though we have a Good Website, our active in
 

Speaking of our CO, we never really had much support from them, they are a "new" church, the former CO merged with another church to form it, this happened in 2022, we never had support from the old church, and when they merged we saw a slight uptick in support, but now it is just as low as it was beforehand, the Pastor seems to have no interest in us, and our COR is NOT active in any way and seeks to retire, I only ever see him during Scout Sunday, and he doesn't interact with us much.

We used to have a LOT of support from our community as well, but it seems as if nobody really cares about Scouting in our town, we have a rich history and we are the oldest Troop in our District, but nobody seems to care about Scouting around here anymore, we still host our Pancake Breakfast Annually, and it is sad to see it as empty as it is, a decent number of people show, but at least 1 row of tables is always empty, and we still sell flags at the Fourth of July Parades, but nobody seems interested in buying. Both our Troop, the Former Troop, and the Cub Pack all had a big presence in our town just 5 Years Ago compared to now! There was even a Second Pack connected to the Former Troop.

So, please tell me, how can I revive my Troop and therefore revive Scouting in my community, I will take any advice.

[RememberSchiff]

@ColorBoomScouting welcome to scouter.com

[ColorBoomScouting]

7 minutes ago, RememberSchiff said:

@ColorBoomScouting welcome to scouter.com

Thanks!

[Jameson76]

In many ways you are experiencing disinterest that may not be of your own making.  Scouting has experienced a decline over the last 45 years.  Slowly the passing down of Scouting from one generation to the next has grown smaller.  Less parents were involved as kids so they do not migrate towards having their kids in Scouting.  Basically a smaller population that thinks favorably of the program.  Many have some esoteric view or opinion, but not actual experience.  Additionally the overall Scouting program in the US has moved more towards the experience of Scouting and less on growing Scouts, easier to leave the program.  In many cases units are seen as just more school.

For Scouts (11-19) for summer of 2024 if you took all the camps, all the weeks, and all the availability, nationally the camps were at 30% capacity.  A small handful were full, but most had lots of empty space.  There may be youth registered, but not a high level of engagement.  Long term I'm not sure of the fix.  In many cases key will be to make the program relevant and work to be clear on what the program is about and what the positive outcomes can be.

We too had 80 Scouts 9 years ago, not so much now and we are in the 20's.  Also the expectations of families have changed.  We camp 11 - 12 times a year, many kids and their families are not supportive of a robust outdoor program.  Possibly meeting in the woods and kids running things scares parents.  Also getting the parents engaged is tough.  Have crews going on high adventure and could not find enough parents that would serve as leaders.  Ended up recruiting a past leader who's son aged out 3 years ago and then an older brother who is 21 and an Eagle from our troop.  15 years ago we had wait lists for adults for the treks.

As I noted, really not sure of the long term fix.

[ColorBoomScouting]

50 minutes ago, Jameson76 said:

In many ways you are experiencing disinterest that may not be of your own making.  Scouting has experienced a decline over the last 45 years.  Slowly the passing down of Scouting from one generation to the next has grown smaller.  Less parents were involved as kids so they do not migrate towards having their kids in Scouting.  Basically a smaller population that thinks favorably of the program.  Many have some esoteric view or opinion, but not actual experience.  Additionally the overall Scouting program in the US has moved more towards the experience of Scouting and less on growing Scouts, easier to leave the program.  In many cases units are seen as just more school.

For Scouts (11-19) for summer of 2024 if you took all the camps, all the weeks, and all the availability, nationally the camps were at 30% capacity.  A small handful were full, but most had lots of empty space.  There may be youth registered, but not a high level of engagement.  Long term I'm not sure of the fix.  In many cases key will be to make the program relevant and work to be clear on what the program is about and what the positive outcomes can be.

We too had 80 Scouts 9 years ago, not so much now and we are in the 20's.  Also the expectations of families have changed.  We camp 11 - 12 times a year, many kids and their families are not supportive of a robust outdoor program.  Possibly meeting in the woods and kids running things scares parents.  Also getting the parents engaged is tough.  Have crews going on high adventure and could not find enough parents that would serve as leaders.  Ended up recruiting a past leader who's son aged out 3 years ago and then an older brother who is 21 and an Eagle from our troop.  15 years ago we had wait lists for adults for the treks.

As I noted, really not sure of the long term fix.

Yes, this is true. I have even spoken with the Mayor about growing our capacity in the town once again, I want to restate, 10 years ago, we had 2 really big Troops i our town and 2 Healthy Packs to feed from, just 10 years ago! It is unbelievable, also, looking into other Troops in the area, they all seem healthy, but, then again, all the healthy ones are co-ed, and I know that is something we don't want to do. We don't even have a functioning Parent Committee, really the ASMs and other Leaders run the Troop.

[Tron]

The number 1 thing you can do to save your troop is to engage the pack and help them grow. Does the pack need more adults? Join the pack as an adult leader, bring a den chief from your troop. Help the pack recruit, get that pack up to 45-60 scouts, and then watch as the AOLs cross. You're getting maybe 1 of 2 AOLs? Imagine if the pack was crossing 10! if you got 5 of 10 for the next 4 years you'd be a regularly sized troop with a healthy number of scouts. 

[scoutldr]

I may be old school, but are your Commissioner staff and District Executive aware and engaged?  It is their job to help out with things like this.  Your DE should have a handle on the "TAY" (Total Available Youth) for your area and coming up with suggestions to engage them.  Your Unit Commissioner and District Commissioner should be engaged to help you troubleshoot your program and have suggestions.  It is literally one of your DE's performance metrics (e.g. $$$) to keep units healthy and not losing membership.

[Tron]

19 hours ago, scoutldr said:

I may be old school, but are your Commissioner staff and District Executive aware and engaged?  It is their job to help out with things like this.  Your DE should have a handle on the "TAY" (Total Available Youth) for your area and coming up with suggestions to engage them.  Your Unit Commissioner and District Commissioner should be engaged to help you troubleshoot your program and have suggestions.  It is literally one of your DE's performance metrics (e.g. $$$) to keep units healthy and not losing membership.

This is not quite accurate any longer. It's their (DE and commissioner corps) job to advise, but it's no longer their role to be held accountable for a units success or failure. He can reach out to them for help but it will only be worth while if the troop is ready and willing to listen. 

[Eagle1993]

Stop the Lion and Tiger program. My feeder pack has 95 scouts now, only 1 AOL crossover.  Kids and parents burn out after 5 years of Cub Scouting.  

Our Troop went from 83 to 17 and after next year likely less than 10.  Covid and Lion parent burnout hit Cub Scout transfers over the last 5 years.

Most kids join Scouts BSA as Cub Scout transfers, so see if you can get a Wolf to AOL pack started. 

[ColorBoomScouting]

1 hour ago, Eagle1993 said:

Stop the Lion and Tiger program. My feeder pack has 95 scouts now, only 1 AOL crossover.  Kids and parents burn out after 5 years of Cub Scouting.  

Our Troop went from 83 to 17 and after next year likely less than 10.  Covid and Lion parent burnout hit Cub Scout transfers over the last 5 years.

Most kids join Scouts BSA as Cub Scout transfers, so see if you can get a Wolf to AOL pack started. 

Thanks! This is actually very good advice.

[Jameson76]

2 hours ago, Eagle1993 said:

Stop the Lion and Tiger program. My feeder pack has 95 scouts now, only 1 AOL crossover.  Kids and parents burn out after 5 years of Cub Scouting.  

Our Troop went from 83 to 17 and after next year likely less than 10.  Covid and Lion parent burnout hit Cub Scout transfers over the last 5 years.

Most kids join Scouts BSA as Cub Scout transfers, so see if you can get a Wolf to AOL pack started. 

Agree.  In the feeder pack for every 12 kids that join as Lions and Tigers (oh my!!) maybe 3 or 4 make it to AOL and potentially crossover.  Then they have had 5 + years of Cubs so the expectation is Scouts will be like Cubs, which it isn't, so there is a high dropout rate.  Also many assume Scouts is like Cubs so they never make it to AOL, tired of the repetitive cub program.

Also families may assume Scouts is like cubs and expect the hand holding, social promotion, and family camping.  Imbalance of expectations and reality

[Jameson76]

5 hours ago, Tron said:

This is not quite accurate any longer. It's their (DE and commissioner corps) job to advise, but it's no longer their role to be held accountable for a units success or failure. He can reach out to them for help but it will only be worth while if the troop is ready and willing to listen. 

DE's are mainly responsible for fund raising.  Keep the cash flowing, membership may be nice but not essential to the DE's performance.  FOS, Camp Cards, Popcorn sells, etc.  Little to no interaction or direction for units these days.  In our council, more than 1/2 the paid staff is there for money raising.  Second highest paid staffer in the council is "development" or money raising.

[Tron]

2 hours ago, Eagle1993 said:

Stop the Lion and Tiger program. My feeder pack has 95 scouts now, only 1 AOL crossover.  Kids and parents burn out after 5 years of Cub Scouting.  

Our Troop went from 83 to 17 and after next year likely less than 10.  Covid and Lion parent burnout hit Cub Scout transfers over the last 5 years.

Most kids join Scouts BSA as Cub Scout transfers, so see if you can get a Wolf to AOL pack started. 

Well the Lion program might get removed ... and replaced with a program similar to the UK Squirrels program (ages 4-6); or, Lions might stay the same but allow younger scouts. Things that were briefed at the national meeting; can't wait until more information becomes available.