Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Three Ways to Improve Your Relationship with the Charter Organization

While every unit has a chartered organization, we can all agree that our units should have a stronger relationship with the religious, civic, fraternal, educational, or other community-based organization that helps us deliver the Scouting program.  These chartered organizations operate Scouting units to deliver programs to their youth members, as well as to the community at large.

Responsibilities of chartered organizations include providing quality leadership and adequate meeting facilities for the Scouting unit, as well as appointing a chartered organization representative to coordinate all Scouting unit operations within the organization.

It is important to maintain a positive relationship with your unit’s chartered organization: 

1) Communicate: Invite members of the organization to unit events.  Let them know of your successes and challenges.  Give a report annually to the chartered organization.  This is a great time to also present them with their charter from the council as part of a formal ceremony.

2) Service Project: Give back to the organization through service.  For example, clean up the grounds of the service club, write letters to the VFW Post, help the church with a beautification project, etc.  Such service let’s your chartered partner know that you appreciate them.

3) Partner: Meet with the chartered organization and brainstorm on ways that you can help one another.  For example, a church may have a youth program.  It might benefit both groups to bring the church youth and Scouts together and do some shared program. 


A Scouting unit and a chartered organization share the same goal of developing youth.  A better relationship between the two will only help achieve that goal. 

Thursday, November 16, 2017

DOES YOUR UNIT HAVE A “NEW MEMBER COORDINATOR” YET?


All units do recruiting for new Scouts.  In fact, some units may have a Committee Member or parent who was unofficially designated as their "recruiter".  Well, now the BSA has created a formal position on your committee for this job: “NEW MEMBER COORDINATOR or NMC.”
The BSA is excited to roll out this new position and is encouraging all units to have at least one person trained for this key role.
There is an orientation video available online and our council is starting to provide training at the December 2, 2017 University of Scouting in December!  Go to www.scouting.org/nmc for more details on NMC or contact your District's Vice-Chair of Membership if you have any questions.
This counts as another trained position for your Unit's JTE... so sign someone up today!

Those who attend the University of Scouting NMC session will receive a free NMC t-shirt!  To sign up for the University of Scouting: https://ppcbsa.org/committees/training/

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Trick/Trunk or Treat Cards – Recruit on Halloween


Just when you thought you could wrap up recruiting for the Fall, there is yet another way you can help get more youth into your pack or troop. Who is going to be coming to your door for candy in a few days?  Potential Cub Scouts!  When giving them treats, why not also invite them to join Scouting?  Think about attaching a “Join Cub Scout” card on each piece of candy you hand out at your home or at the local Trunk or Treat. Click on the link below, which leads to an editable template.  You can print the cards as is or edit them with your specific pack or troop information. You may also place an order for your cards by emailing Bill SanFilippo (bill.sanfilippo@scouting.org).  You must submit your order at least one week in advance. Cards are printed on orange cardstock with black and white ink. 
Be sure to share these with all your parents and leaders. You can even do a twist on front yard camping displays by creating a scary tent set-up.  Most importantly, briefly engage youth about what Scouting has to offer and give them some means of getting more information.  This is a fun way of letting people know about your local Scouting program.
More info at: https://ppcbsa.org/membership/currentmembers/resources/

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

How to Strengthen Your Relationships with Local Schools


Our relationships with our local schools can always be improved.  A strong relationship with schools can lead to more families joining the pack and more opportunities for the Scouts!

Below are some selected highlights from a story “BryanOnScouting” produced for us.

In many cities and towns, the mission to grow Scouting begins at schools. That’s where lots of young people first learn about the Cub Scout packs and Boy Scout troops of which their classmates are members.
The alignment is natural and robust. Scouting and schools emphasize civics, preparedness, and service to the community. Ready to strengthen the relationship between Scouting and schools in your area? The BSA has several resources to help.

Here’s a look at four of these tools — some new, some revised to meet modern needs.

1. Adopt-A-School
The BSA’s Adopt-A-School program often is the first step in connecting Scout units with schools.
Units make a minimum one-year commitment to partner with school administrations and offer the volunteer services that most effectively meet the school’s needs.  Here’s what this often looks like: In exchange for meeting space and other support from the school, Scout units complete at least four service projects to beautify the school inside and out.  The school and surrounding community benefit greatly, and units get service hours that count toward Journey to Excellence progress. It is the very definition of “win-win.”

2. Outstanding Educator Award
The Elbert K. Fretwell Outstanding Educator Award is a new BSA award with real potential to result in membership growth.  It’s named after the professor of education at Columbia University who became the BSA’s second Chief Scout Executive, succeeding James E. West.  The Outstanding Educator Award — also referred to as the Fretwell Award — is presented to teachers, educational support staff, and school administrators who instill Scouting values in their students. It recognizes a person’s work for students in his or her professional role — not for what the person does directly for Scouting.  The award can be presented at the district, council, area, regional, and national levels. There is no minimum or maximum number of awards that can be presented per school year. That said, a good guideline is one award per year per school.

3. Report to the School District
Each year, the BSA sends a group of impressive young men and women to Washington, D.C. to present the Report to the Nation. The report, mandated in the BSA’s 1916 charter, is basically a Scouting good-news tour. The delegates meet with several key officials to tell them about the accomplishments of Scouts from the previous year.  Many BSA councils also organize a Report to the State trip. Same idea, different scale.  Report to the School District follows this pattern. Scouts meet with district leaders to tell them how Scouting supports the community. This is a great way to promote Scouting and renew relationships with schools.  It is also an opportunity to highlight and share the ways Scouting affects the local school district.

4. School Access Training Module
The phrase “school access” means something different in almost every school district.
It may be:
           The ability to send home a message with prospective Cub Scouts.
           The opportunity for a BSA representative to talk to a group of prospective Cub Scouts at school.
           The use of a school facility.
The BSA has developed a 50-minute training module to help volunteers with what they should know about schools to optimize access, what the law says about school access, three examples of responding to school access challenges, and proven practices for building relationships with school personnel.  The module can be done as a stand-alone session or as a part of a “day of training” course.  Local districts and councils should strongly consider making this part of their membership repertoire.  The link to the course can be found at: http://scoutingwire.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/522-060_17SchoolIssuesFPO.pdf


If our goal is to provide outstanding youth programs, then we have to meaningfully engage the institutions that teacher the vast majority of these same youth – our local schools.