Starting a Troop for Girls - Request for advice, tips, pitfalls, etc...

[FireStone]

We're in the early stages (working with CO and Council) to kick off a girls troop for a small group of girls completing their Cub Scout journey in March. I'm going through the SM training and trying to start to formulate a plan to hit the ground running in March despite having a roster of 11-year-olds and no older scouts to teach skills and lead younger scouts. 

We have a CO on board already, same CO as our Pack and CO of a boys troop, and we initially have agreement with the boys troop to have a shared Committee. 

From a high-level perspective, I'm just curious if anyone who has been through this or watch new troops get started have any advice, recommendations, tips, tricks, cautionary tales, etc., that could help along the way in these early stages of creating a troop and thinking about those first few months and first meetings. 

What worked well? What would you do differently if you had to do it again? I know there is only so much I can do with limited resources to start, so what should a new SM in a new troop prioritize? Program? Recruiting? Fundraising? Events/activities/summer camp? All of the above? 

[Eagle94-A1]

13 minutes ago, FireStone said:

We're in the early stages (working with CO and Council) to kick off a girls troop for a small group of girls completing their Cub Scout journey in March. I'm going through the SM training and trying to start to formulate a plan to hit the ground running in March despite having a roster of 11-year-olds and no older scouts to teach skills and lead younger scouts. 

While I would  "Be Prepared" to create a new, all-girls troop, February will be when the announcement on coed troops comes out. If I was a betting man, I would put my money on coed troops.

 

[DuctTape]

It may be kind of dated, but the original Fieldbook (from late 1940s-50s) is basically a step-by-step manual of activities (called pow-wows) for a fledgling patrol (or troop of patrols). 

Table of Contents page 1

One could easily modify it with more modern equipment and skills. I bet a good prompt into ChatGPT while uploading a PowWow would be an easy way to do this. Then hand the newer version to the PLs.

[FireStone]

31 minutes ago, Eagle94-A1 said:

While I would  "Be Prepared" to create a new, all-girls troop, February will be when the announcement on coed troops comes out. If I was a betting man, I would put my money on coed troops.

 

We're moving ahead with girls-only for now, we have 2 boy troops in town already, and we are already moving along with the AOL boys preparing them to select one of those troops to join at crossover. I could be convinced to change that at some point, but that's not the plan for starting out next year regardless of what we find out in February.