BadenP 93 Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 SP "Excessive", not true at all and your last post just proves my point. Why should you or anyone as a unit leader have to create a methodology to recruit hispanics? They have paid staff at National who's job it is to do just that for you. Publishing bilingual handbooks is a given but does not mean that National has developed any viable or successful programs to accomplish the goal of more hispanic membership, that hispanic cub soccer program was a total joke. The truth of the matter is that the department decision makers at National are nothing more than scouting profesionals who have worked their way up through the ranks, survived 30+ years in the field, but are ill equipped to handle the responsibilities or requirements of those cush positions, so instead they punt and usually come up short. Time to trim some deadwood at National. Link to post Share on other sites
SeattlePioneer 144 Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 There are LOTS of methodologies out there for recruiting Latinos. You've mentioned several, including the soccer and Scouting program. I need a particular type of method that will apply to my area and my pack. To do that, I had to discover a variety of resources and methods. My council paid for national membership trainers to come in and provide membership training in early June. One of their major program elements was how to recruit minorities, and their ideas were very helpful to me. I wont know how successful I am until our fall recruiting night, but I think I've got some good ideas. Even after that, the next major issue is keeping the interest and support of Latino families ---as big an issue if not more than recruiting them in the first place. Indeed, as a district membership chair, my experience is that pretty much every unit needs to customize their recruiting program to fit their particular situation. In short, my experience contradicts your criticisms. The problem is that National can have a million good ideas but that doesn't do much good if units aren't interested in trying them out and adapting them to their own needs. That's one of my jobs as district membership chair, and it's difficult for me to do. I'll give you an example of how I try to do that in an e-mail I sent out earlier today: "Hello District Cub Scout Leaders, There is no Roundtable in July. Our August Roundtable will be Thursday, August 9th from 7:30-8:30 PM. We will be featuring a model Cub Scout Recruiting night that will have loads of ideas on how to plan for a succesful Cub Scout pack recruiting night this fall. It will feature our terrific "Stomp Bottle Rocket Launch" which allows parents and Cub Scouts to build model rockets that are launched by stomping on a two liter soda pop bottle! It's great fun, and Cub Scout leaders are invited to bring their Cub Scouts to this event to see whose rocket goes the farthest and highest! Take the time to plan a date for your fall recruiting night so it can be included on our District calendar. We are also planning on having an ice cream social as part of our August 9th Roundtable to get the new Cub Scout year started with another fun activity! This would also be a fine event to use to recruit a Pack Membership Chair who can take responsibility for organizing your recruiting night. Invite them to bring their Cub Scout to the rocket launch and ice cream social --- after all, it's designed to be a recruiting night! Best," That's not to be critical of unit leaders, who are usually overwhelmed with things to do. They (we) have to make choices about what we spend our time on. What you see above is my best effort ever of trying to make learning about effective recruiting methods worthwhile and fun for unit leaders. I started doing these recruiting kickoffs as part of a council effort to promote that kind of activity in 2005. After eight years of experience and development, my methods are much improved. Link to post Share on other sites
dkurtenbach 348 Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 Mr. Hunsaker introduces the five "core content areas," which will run through both Cub Scouting and Boy Scouting (see below), as the "organizational principles of Scouting." Those five core content areas are: Character Development, Participatory Citizenship, Personal Fitness, Outdoor Skills and Awareness, and Leadership. It looks like they are taking the "Aims and Methods" framework and boiling it down, as well as making it consistent between Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts. Recall that the three Aims are Character Development, Citizenship Training, and Personal Fitness; and the eight Methods of Boy Scouting are Advancement, Outdoors, Patrols, Ideals, Adult Association, Personal Growth, Uniform, and Leadership. In the May 2012 progress report, the Comments on Pillar IV/Objective 1/Goal 1 include the following: "Completed and gained . . . approval on recommended integration of Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts fundamentals." No mention of Venturing. Dan Kurtenbach Fairfax, VA Link to post Share on other sites
emb021 16 Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 "No mention of Venturing." I noticed that. I've had some people tell me of a "411 Project" looking at Venturing. Either this group isn't doing that (only spoke of the Cub Scout & Boy Scout programs), or there is another "411 group" looking at Venturing. And if so, why have they not reported (was told they would around this time). Link to post Share on other sites
BadenP 93 Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 emb021 Venturing still goes unanswered because no one at National really understands the program or its potential, the original premise of the program is full of holes that the adult and youth leaders in the crews have had to compensate for in their programs. Personally I would love to go to National and rewrite the entire Venturing program, patterned after our districts very successful program. In addition get rid of all those pathetic and poorly written Venturing manuals and replace them with one handbook, easy to reference, resource filled, and full of useful information that can be used by any type of crew, but especially suited for those crews with an outdoor emphasis. National really hasn't got a clue how to develop any kind of sustainable or interesting or fun program for Venturing. They haven't since its inception and IMO never will really understand what Venturing truly is supposed to be. Link to post Share on other sites
emb021 16 Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 BP- While I would agree that Nationals support of Venturing has been poor almost from day one, I'd have to see what your District did before I could get behind it. I know that many of us have been frustrated by what has happened from National, not helped that many of us who have a passion and vision for Venturing seemed to get shut out by the PTB. Link to post Share on other sites
JMHawkins 15 Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 BadenP, Can you give us a summary of your district's Venturing program? Maybe spin a thread off in the Venturing forum. I'd be interested to know more. Link to post Share on other sites
bnelon44 17 Posted July 11, 2012 Author Share Posted July 11, 2012 Dan, "approval on recommended integration of Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts fundamentals" What does integration of Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts fundamentals mean? Link to post Share on other sites
dkurtenbach 348 Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 This is my interpretation, going solely on what was discussed by Mr. Hunsaker in the video. It appears to me that "integration of Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts fundamentals" refers to revising the Cub Scout and Boy Scout program content so that at each grade/age level, the same five "core content areas" are represented in a consistent and progressive (age-appropriate) way from Tigers to Eagle Scout rank requirements. Again, the five core content areas discussed in the video are: Character Development, Participatory Citizenship, Personal Fitness, Outdoor Skills and Awareness, and Leadership. As a practical matter, I don't think that "integration" of "fundamentals" itself will substantially change the programs. Rather, I suspect it is more taking the existing program elements and reorganizing and re-balancing -- as if your troop is trying to standardize the gear in its patrol boxes out of two similar, but not identical, piles. Dan Kurtenbach Fairfax, VA Link to post Share on other sites
Basementdweller 608 Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 Recruiting latinos is a tough sell. I couldn't tell you how many I have lost webelos age when they go to work in the family business. They are tight knit......Most in area go to family functions out of town every single weekend.....The boys drop simply because they cannot participate. Far as socceer goes....In our area it isn't that big for the latino's...of course youth socceer in our area cost several hundred dollars per session. Link to post Share on other sites
bnelon44 17 Posted July 12, 2012 Author Share Posted July 12, 2012 Thanks Dan. As you mentioned, the emphasis seems to be on the Aims of Scouting with outdoors and leadership thrown in. Link to post Share on other sites
SeattlePioneer 144 Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 Hello Basement, Link to post Share on other sites
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