Well…the handwriting’s on the wall; my National/Regional BSA office friends are telling me that there are *PAPER STUDIES* going on now to gauge the effect of having females to serve as Cub Scouts and WEBELOS Cub Scouts ONLY (no word on Boy Scouting/Varsity Scouting but my pennies say that it’s not too far off from being activily thought about).

Here’s why.

As the “total available (male) youth” or TAY (which is how the BSA gauges how to best support the program at all levels) continues to decline — don’t confuse this with membership; this is the total number of available MALE YOUTH of Scouting age for each program — the BSA has to do one of three things.

The first plan which is being considered is reducing the “overhead” of youth and adults in a unit. Right now, a unit technically consists of five youth, three adults with a chartering partner organization; or a Lone Scout unit consisting of a single male and an adult of either gender. The Girl Scouts of the USA got it right — their Troops consist basically of six females and two adults, with no chartering partner organization (what we in the BSA would consider a patrol, den, squad). This first plan is to downsize the unit to basically what the GSUSA has and call *that* a BSA unit. The effect of this is to basically break up the larger BSA units — mainly medium sized Packs and large Troops — into three, four, six smaller Troops or Packs with reduced leadership. Before everyone gets bent — this works to the BSA’s advantage as many GSUSA leaders are aware — as the Pack or Troop gets larger, it provides the opportunity for those units to combine to become larger when the TAY numbers increase.

The second plan which is being considered is the opportunity for female youth of Cub Scout age to become Cub Scouts and WEBELOS Cub Scouts. This is being looked at because there are increasingly more females of Cub Scout/WEBELOS Cub Scout (elementary school age) than males out there. There are several issues with this — the biggest is that at this age level, the GSUSA is doing a great job attracting youth to their Daisy, Brownie and Junior programs and there’s going to be a lot of push-back on their parts if this option is rolled out. Another smaller issue is that of utilization of Girl Scouting day camps being used by the BSA — in many terrorities it can be a mess. Finally, there’s the entire “girls need girl guidance and boys needs male guidance” stuff which kept females from serving as adult leaders, commissioners and professionals other than within Exploring. I think that this could be overcome over time. Uniforms do not have to be changed; insignia do not have to be changed; and the term “Cub Scout” and “WEBELOS Cub Scout” could pertain to males or females (”We’ll BE LOyal Scouts” can refer to either the BSA’s or GSUSA Scout programs)!

The third option seriously being considered is simply to continue the way we’re going and watch as many local Councils implode upon themselves simply because the male youth is no longer there in larger numbers as before. This means that we’ll see many local Councils become larger and larger and the number of professional and volunteer support will drop significantly. The effect that this has is that overall the BSA’s membership will drop to a point back similar to the middle 60s and we’ll be looking at our older youth programs as well as “variations” on our Cub Scout programming to try to pull us out.

Like I said, these are PAPER studies…as far as I’m aware, we don’t have female Cub Scouts *yet* but I won’t be surprised that in March or April of the year after next (we’ll have to get through the 100th anniversary first!) that we’ll see female youth in *some local Councils (class 1 Quality Councils) * working through a Nationally-coordinated plan to work through the effects of having female youth in Cub Scouting.

The BSA and GSUSA went down this road once before…in the early 70s. The two programs were working toward some sort of consolidation for a lot of reasons. It fell apart when the GSUSA refused to accept the BSA’s “chartering partnership” concept and when the BSA refused to drop the number of professionals to a core of three (Scout Executive, Assistant Scout Executive and Program Director) instead of the four or so professionals predominate in the smallest class Councils (Scout Executive, two District Executives and a Field Director or Senior District Executive).

I know that the BSA, the GSUSA, and Campfire are looking at ways to get past the “total available youth” situation. In the meantime, my personal advice to those who don’t want “girls in our BOY SCOUTING programs”, is to “make more male babies and sign them up for Cub Scouting when they are born….” *smiling*

The numbers are simply not there right now otherwise.

Settummanque!

For more from the mind of Mike check out his blog at http://www.settummanque.com/.

Here is a update from the Boy Scouts of America, this information only pertains to Western Region. The Information came to me in a e-mail. The information was about interviews for staff and adult leadership for the Western Region.
…
If you have not received this e-mail and applied for the 2011 World Scout Jamboree IST or adult leadership positions at least 1 month ago, please contact Elizabeth or your local council to see if they have processed your application. Your council must approve your application just like the 2010 National Jamboree online application process, this is likely where the hold up is.

He has the exact e-mail posted that he received, but the important point is that you should have received something by now letting you know that the choices are being made right now!

The United Nations Foundation’s Nothing But Nets, a grassroots campaign to prevent malaria by sending long-lasting insecticide-treated nets to families in Africa, announced today that the Boy Scouts of America has joined the malaria-prevention campaign as part of its 100th Anniversary Celebration. Throughout the year, Scouts from around the country will work within their communities to raise awareness about malaria, a leading killer in Africa.

BSA Chief Scout Executive Bob Mazzuca and Nothing But Nets Director Adrianna Logalbo launched the life-saving partnership today during a malaria workshop at Detroit Edison Public School Academy. Bill Gates Sr., Distinguished Eagle Scout and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The Honorable Dave Bing, Mayor of Detroit and Deron Washington of the NBA’s Detroit Pistons, joined Mazzuca and Logalbo at the workshop to teach more than 65 local Scouts about malaria and how to help prevent the deadly disease.

“Every single day, in almost every community across the nation, Scouts are doing their part to make this world a better place by becoming good citizens. But our concern for others doesn’t stop at our borders. We are global citizens,” Mazzuca said. “Even during a challenging economic recession, it’s hard to imagine that nearly 3,000 people die every day from a preventable disease like malaria. We’re pleased to work with the UN Foundation’s Nothing But Nets campaign to help make a positive difference for the children in Africa.”

I’m all in favor of supporting this cause. It reminds me of that Ashton Kutcher drive a while back where he was trying to get nets to help prevent malaria.

I just wish people would stop opposing the use of DDT so that we could save the lives of the tens of millions of Africans who perished because of the bad reputation the pesticide received. Even if it had some bad side affects I find it difficult to believe it would have been worse than allowing the population of several small cities to die from an almost completely preventable reason. Don’t take my word for it, though. Even the World Health Organization thinks so. Still nets will help. It’s unfortunate that it will still allow hundreds of thousands to die each year.

A Year of Celebration – A Century of Making a Difference officially kicks off today! A year of Celebration – A Century of Making a Difference is an awards program specially developed for the 100th Anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America for all Scouts, adult volunteers and Scouting alumni.

The award consists of a main patch, which is patterned after the official 100th Anniversary emblem, with five additional awards represented by 2″ ribbons from the patch. Program participants will earn recognition for making a difference in their communities due to their dedication to five of Scouting’s core values: Leadership, Character, Community Service, Achievement, and the Outdoors. Individuals will be able to display all earned awards at the same time on their uniforms by attaching award markers to the patch.

Awards may be earned as of September 1, 2009 through December 31, 2010.

There are five requirements for each age group. All you have to do is accomplish at least three of the five requirements to earn the award. You may want to do all five requirements, but three is all that you’ll need to qualify for the award. You can download the requirements from the National BSA website at http://ww2.scouting.org/100years/100years/sitefiles/1000/
YourSource/PlanningTools/A_Year_of_Celebration/BSA_Year_Patch_Earning.pdf

Fleischman-Hillard is a company that the national council is using to manage some of their communications. A nice lady from the company asked me to let you all know about the 100 year celebration that Dan referenced above. So, I hope you all give it a click.

Sequoyah Council partnered with Fender’s Farm to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the BSA with a 7 acre corn maze. The farm’s 2009 corn maze features a centennial emblem of the Boy Scouts of America at its center. The maze features about two miles of trails and 85 “decision points” at which walkers much decide which way to turn.

“The Sequoyah Council is pleased and very appreciative that Fender’s Farm and its sponsors have selected the Sequoyah Council, Boy Scouts of America, to help showcase the celebration of 100 years of the Boy Scouts of America with this wonderful corn maze,” said Sequoyah Council’s Scout Executive. “The design that has been laid out by Fender’s Farm and the events surrounding it are a spectacular way to help the Sequoyah Council kick off our year-long-plus celebration of the 100th anniversary of scouting.”

Lionel, a leading manufacturer of electronic model train sets and accessories, is set to introduce an 0-8-0 Steam Freight Collectors Set commemorating the Boy Scouts of America 100th Anniversary. This first time offering incorporates the Boy Scouts’ ethos into the Lionel tradition, giving collectors a chance to play and learn with the classic work train set. This set is due to ship in early 2010.

The set will include:
0-8-0 steam locomotive and tender, boxcar, bulkhead flatcar with box and wheel load, work caboose, a powerful CW-80 Transformer, FastTrack track sections to create a 40″ x 60″ track layout oval. The collector’s Boy Scouts of America® 100th Anniversary boxcar in this set features Boy Scouts of America® illustrations by Norman Rockwell. Additionally, a special commemorative Lionel patch will be included with each set.

The set is expected to retail for $299.99.

Additionally, a BSA® Boxcar featuring the Scout Law will also be available. The decoration on this special boxcar includes the 12 points of Scout Law, the Universal Emblem, and authentic railroad markings. Expected Retail: $59.99

To purchase this set or add-on boxcar, locate a dealer near you by visiting the Lionel website.

That’s right. The BSA just released its first-ever app for the iPhone or iPod Touch. For $9.99, you get a digitized, searchable edition of the handbook that fits right into your pocket. It’s the perfect example of the BSA’s new initiative to connect with Scouts through technologies they already use.

The app sounds great, but how does it work? We spent the past week testing it, so follow the jump to find out how it holds up.

Downloading and installation: As you might expect with an app that has the same amount of information as a full-color, 480-page book, the file is quite large. It weighs in at 89.9 megabytes. The downside to this is that it won’t download over a cellular connection—you’ll need to be logged onto a Wi-Fi network to get it.

The reason for its large size is that the handbook is stored entirely on your device instead of on a server, meaning you won’t need any kind of data signal to use the app. In other words, if you’re in the middle of a hike to Mount Phillips and need to look up how to splint a lower-leg fracture, you’ve got the answer even if the nearest cellular tower is miles away.

That’s important. Most of your questions will need to be answered when you can’t get to a phone. Otherwise, you’d just call 911.

This is more of a question then innovation. Several of my volunteers has asked why the Eagle Certificates has GW Bush as the Honorary President and not President Obamaa’ signature. Is there an answer that I can give them? According to my Eagle Board Chair, President Obama also has not sent out any congratulatory letters when asked, and my chair wants to know why.

So others weighed in

brian.russ 27 days ago
I spoke to some of my new Eagle Scout parents today and they reported that they DID receive congratulatory letters from the Obama administration.
Lynette Campbell 22 days ago
I received a telephone call from the White House last week when someone had requested a congratulatory letter for an Eagle Scout and I was told that President Obama’s staff does not not send out a congratulatory letter unless the Eagle COURT OF HONOR date is included in the request. I let them know that the date a Scout becomes an Eagle Scout is the date of the Eagle BOARD OF REVIEW and they are still an Eagle Scout whether they have a Court of Honor or not (many leave to go into the armed services, etc., before they can have a Court of Honor, etc.) but I was informed by the White House staff that “things are different now”…yes, they are.
Karl Shelton 15 days ago
My son received a congratulatory letter from Obama. It arrived one week in advance of his Court of Honor.

The difference appears to be the presence of a Court of Honor date. This is important to know in case you want to get a White House certificate for your son or a boy in your troop.

Boy Scouts is supposed to be about the youth we serve yet there is no youth representation on the National Board. Consider adding select number of Eagles, Venturing president or others to National Board on a one year membership.

Scouting professional Renee has this to say about that.

Renee Fairrer 22 days ago
The Order of the Arrow Chief and the National Venturing President both serve on the National Executive Board. These are young men and/or women (Venturing) who represent the voice of youth in Scouting at the highest level. This practice has been in place for many years.

Just came out of a “Cub Scouts 2010″ session. The term “20/10″ means “clear vision”–just ask your optometrist. So let’s call this campaign…

Cub Scouts 2010–a Clear Vision for Growth

Any 2010 campaigns can use the “clear vision” tag