Scoutreach Vs Scouting

[SeattlePioneer 144]

Frankly I know very little about the Scoutreach program.

 

Who can describe it's role and financing?

 

What is the attraction of Scoutreach programs for councils?

 

To what extent does Scoutreach compete for funding, the time of professionals and volunteers with traditional Scouting programs?

[Eagle92 110]

SCOUTREACH is (or was as I think they just changed the name)is the BSA's program to get to A) "at risk youth" i.e. those youth in high crime areas with few to none positive role models and B) those youth in extremely rural areas where scouting may not have taken place yet. In both cases you are looking are looking at folks who are in need.

 

Financing of the program varies from council to council. Various grants and donations usually fund the program, sometimes FOS will also pay for a few things, usually the parapro's salary or volunteer's expenses.

 

As for the role, it is really getting scouting into areas that few to no people think it will work. Yes there have been successes and failures with the program. When I tried starting the SCOUTREACH program in my district way back when I was a DE, my goal was to try and bring scouting to those who really need something positive int heir lives. I just wished I had more support, not only form the council, but also from some who said they wanted Scouting to succeed in their community.

 

Attraction varies. Most basic is that it increases membership numbers, which is something all pros want to see. But there are pros who want the program to succeed and make a difference in the community.

 

As for competition, varies from council to council. I've seen it where a parapro, someone who is paid to be in scouting, but has not gone through all of the DE training and may be PT or FT, will not only do the fundraising for the program, usually grants and other donations, but also serve as the leader for units for a period of time until enough volunteers are found and can take over. Sometimes the parapro is responsible for 3-5 units, serving as their CM or SM as the case may be.

 

other places have volunteers running things, and they may get reimbursed for expenses. I know one vol who tell's the council to put any money owed to him towards a campership for his scouts..

 

As for Traditional program v Scoutreach, with the excpetion of the possibility of a paid leader, there really shouldn't be one. I know our Scoutreach folks do everything that other units do. Heck some folks in the district didn't even know we had scoutreach units b/c they were doing things as normal.

[Scoutfish 16]

Scouting is well....scouting as we know it.

 

Scoutreach( in my opinion) is just an extra arm of scouting which pushes extra hard to gain members by altering certain parts of the program. Soccer for instance. It's scouting revolving around scouting.

 

But let's be real here...there are two sides to everything:

 

 

Scouts: A cool program that some volunteers spend extra time and effort to make it work withing different ethnicities and cultral differences among community members.

 

BSA: Hey, let go after them too. WE adapt to their interests, get them hooked, and then we have millions more people buying our books, uniforms, pins, hats, etc....

[Basementdweller 608]

Our pack competes with scoutreach programs for scouts. Two of the three elementary schools that we recruit from have scout reach. In our area, scoutreach youth get shirt, book neckerchief and everything for free. Oddly enough, unit locations, leadership and numbers seem to be a secret.

 

My thought was why not offer them an evening program or at least invite them along on our outings.....Stone walled by the then DE and council. I just wanted to invite them to our fishing derby for petesake.

 

BSA......hey another way to get the united way and other ethnic organization to donate to us.

 

My experience with charity and scouts has not been positive. They gouge us for $100, we see him twice and never again, phone calls and knocking on doors to retrieve uniforms and books with poor results.

[UCEagle72 10]

Well "everything for free" is a bit of a stretch.

 

The boys "earn" their Scout Handbook, and uniform parts by their attendance at meetings, and working on rank advancement. As an example down here, a Scout must attend 5 meetings before he gets his handbook. (And I know the number varies by Council.) They also do service projects in their community to earn credit toward uniform parts.

 

Initially, they receive a necker & slide. But I can tell you from being with these young men, they want to "earn" that uniform. They know this is what sets them apart.

 

In our District we have a Pack & Troop sponsored by the Boys & Girls Club which is part of the program. And we are working on a Pack, Troop, and Crew at a another location not too far away.

 

Our "traditional" units are very helpful with these programs. They have provided "Troop Guides" to help the young men learn scoutcraft skills, and have invited the Troop to attend campouts with them.

 

 

[OldGreyEagle 5]

A few years back one long term scouter thought it would be a good idea to invite all the scoutreach adult leaders to the Distrct Dinner, and as a show of charity, have the District COmmittee fund the endeavor, he was chargrined when he found out that the Scoutreach leaders get paid for being scout leaders. A fact that escaped his attention

 

THen again, the OA chapter has done some good things

 

http://www.oa-bsa.org/programs/mentoring/mentoringnq.htm

 

The biggest issue I have with Scoutreach is they are supposed to be part of the Scouting Program yet there there are Scoutreach events and "Traditional unit" events. I thought scouts were scouts

[Eagle92 110]

each council does scout reach differently, in my council they have some "skin in the game," and not everything is provided for them.

 

And my understanding is that Soccer and Scouting is not part of Scoutreach, or whatever it is being called now as I think it was renamed recently, but it's own separate program.

[John-in-KC 311]

In my District we use Scoutreach dollars to assist when a new Scout has a true need. Committee Chairs coordinate quietly with their UC and/or the Profesional team.

 

We also have several true Scoutreach units. There is a pack, troop, and crew inside one of the area counties' juvenile jails. There is a troop in a particular part of the district that is economically in real trouble.

 

A neighboring District has a true inner city area. There are several Scoutreach units there. Unit leaders are drawn from other elements of the District; they get a token honorarium to serve in addition to their other Scouting duties.

[AvidSM 11]

My Council runs a Scoutreach program very similar to the one many of you are discribing. It's a way to reach out to the urban areas where voluneers and money is hard to find.

 

Some scoutreach units do transition into traditional units. So, it is a way of growing scouting. It is also a quick and easy way for Council to get their youth numbers up, provided that they can get the grant to pay for the paid volunteers. I even have Unit Commissioners who are paid part-time to help the scoutreach units.

 

When you think about it, it's the youth in these units that need scouting the most.