19 September 2009
Boy Scouts Youth National Board Suggestion
Posted by admin under: policies .
Another suggestion over at the BSA’s Innovation Engine is to have youth volunteers represented on the national board. Sounds good.
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.
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3 Comments so far...
Dan - Scouting News Says:
20 September 2009 at 1:33 pm.
While having representatives on the Executive Board is great, I think they need to try and get more youth representation in the committees where the work and decisions happen.
Settummanque (Mike Walton) Says:
17 October 2009 at 4:22 pm.
Since *1941*, there has been at least one and at the high point five youth representative on the BSA’s National Executive Board, the board which makes final decisions on matters pertaining to the Boy Scouts of America. The three “permenent” members of the NEB are a Cub Scout selected through local Council recommendation through the Regions with final selection by the Chief Scout Executive and the Director of Cub Scouting (now the Program Group Director); the National Chief of the Order of the Arrow, representing Boy Scouting/Varsity Scouting; and the National President of the Venturing Officers Association, representing all Venturing and Sea Scouting youth. From time to time, those three youth members were supplemented by a National Cub Scout and Boy Scout Youth Representative, usually a winner of a national contest sponsored through the Readers’ Digest Association or the Wallace Foundation.
From 1971 to 1989, youth members — either Regional Arrowmen, Regional Exploring Presidents or chairs of national speciality associations within Exploring — also served on national BSA committees in the areas of training, program, administration and supply. Personally, I served for four years as a youth member and four years as an adult member with the BSA’s National Uniform and Insignia Committee and with the BSA’s Communications Committee (which went away in 1987). Two youth members — a Boy Scout and an Explorer — served as members with the BSA’s Volunteer Training committee; and of course, there were always youth representaiton on the BSA’s Outdoor, Camping and Exploring committees.
You don’t hear about that representation because compared to the other members of the National Executive Board, their voices are not as strong as others; and because for the most part, they can only attend two meetings during a typical year because of schooling and other personal activities going on.
One significant item Scouters should know is that the National youth representatives DO NOW carry a vote. In the past, youth members on the NEB were non-voting members.
Settummanque!
Nick Says:
23 December 2009 at 9:06 pm.
You’d be suprised how strong a youth’s voice on the NEB actually is. I was on the NEB when I was 19 as National Chief of the Order of the Arrow, and the board members were truly interested in the opinions of youth members. Youth are also represented on a number of committees as Dan suggests. Aside from the NEB, I was on the National Boy Scouting Committee, the National Eagle Scout Association Committee, and the National OA Committee. The National Vice Chief is typically on the National BSA Advancement Committee and the Region Chiefs are generally on several Regional Committees.
