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So, you have your work cut out for you. Yes, public understanding is tough. Foks "get" troops. But, the reality is that either way, you're breaking new ground in your community. Consider this strategy: Is your daughter the youngest of a group of friends looking to master outdoor skills and staff camps? Form a crew. Is your daughter the oldest of a group of friends looking to master outdoor skills and learn patriotism and general life skills? Form a BSA4G troop. Does your daughter not have friends, help her with a marketing plan. Either way, it sounds like you should to look for a chartered organization who doesn't already field a troop. Yes you have your work cut out for you. So, your first step is to find friends who will help support you (muscle mainly, but guidance, and maybe even some $ would be nice). Get a buddy or three to go in with you on Venturing Leader Specific Training.

Good for you! If you take this path, it will be a wild ride. Your #1 need will be adults willing to get training, at least one adult dedicated to promotions in your school, scouts (BSA, GS/USA, and other groups) willing to put in the extra effort to form a community of venturers. If you are lucky, your council venturing officers association will be able to provide resources to help you. I also found Woodbadge trained scouters to be helpful in terms of helping me and my youth network. Are you already involved in a BSA unit? That will determine some of the other pitfalls you may face.

This . For 4 decades (5, if you count the rallying cries of agism and theism), the Moral Majority was using BSA as a social action cudgel. Therefore, there remains an expectation that national would reach out and pull the charter of a rogue troop. The opposite has happened, and that certainly can feel like a betrayal. On the other hand, decades rife with gestures of scouters on one side of the country banning classes of scouters (and scouts) on the other side of the country was a form of slow betrayal of it's own. Here on Lake Erie, retaining walls have buttressed bluffs against the property loss of owners who wanted an unobstructed view of the shore. It's sort of worked. Their cliff's have stopped eroding away. The beautiful homes - built up from fishing shanties, are preserved. But annual deposits of sand from seasonal run-off is gone. The beaches are eroded. And with the lake levels up, the assault on the concrete bases has begun. "Something there is that doesn't love a wall. That wants it down." I guess it boils down to where we want the sands of our nation's youth: retained behind walls, or spaning a vast beach.

If execs bury the changes in unnecessarily neutral language, they will lose scouters who prefer that you speak plainly. Trained in marketing, they meticulously count news clippings and categorize them into favorable and unfavorable media references. If they lean too much on trying to read those tea leaves, it's gonna be rough. Inclusion rhetoric is also potentially disasterous. Think about the constant glossary reminders that Venturing has to put out. That breath wasted in teaching scouters that it's not "Venture Scouts". A Silver/summit award that has an eagle on it but is not an Eagle award. The lesson? "Treat us like real scouts, just don't call us scouts." Ridiculous! And membership numbers confirm it. Like I tell new acquaintances, it doesn't matter what you call me, just don't call me late for dinner. Changing language won't help girls be included. Actually helping girls be included will. The kind of girls I want are the kind who can appreciate the the boys I have. When that happens, it's a beautiful thing. Precious few changes in title are necessary. Consider Robert's Rules of Order. It declared that a female leader was also to be called Chairman/Director/Governor. But to make clear that such woman was welcome in her post, simply address her as Madame Chairman. Such a move did not bankrupt Robert's Rules, it made it more valuable to a wider audience. Why? Because the opposite of a room full of men conducting business was a room full of men brawling, not a room of full of both sexes conducting business. We need to remind ourselves that the original opposite of Boy Scout was Military Scout. We weren't giving boys space from girls. We were giving space from imitating the warfare of the day ... a space where military disciplines could be use for youthful peacetime service. That same space can and is being used for both sexes to perform youthful peacetime service.

Pottery. If you can find an artist who will set up a wood fired kiln, clay is cheap.

"Scouts" accommodates nobody. Fewer American boys than ever consider themselves scouts, even fewer girls. Let's not forget that "scouts" does not refer only to youth nor, thanks to the inflated sports industry, does it refer to territorial expedition forces. I had yet to see balloons announcing a new arrival proclaim "It's a scout!" A kid who is interested in literature for their age group is not going to type "scout magazine" in their search engine. They won't even have a clue that the word would apply to them. Their first search will be either "girls" or "boys". At the book store, the will look for those words in the title. Be plain spoken. Pitch to your customers using the names that they call themselves.

Hush, Ian! Sometimes even bad press sells tickets! Sons were quite amused to hear that I'm now assisting in a 2WSP. Son #2 scoffed, "Wasn't that what we were doing already?" I've often told them that when they hear murmurs about sinners and publicans at their table, to check if the Master's seared nearby.

1st generation scout (although my brother, two decades my senior made it a very LONG generation). Cousin Bill locked the football hall of fame, so I - being flat footed and more into distance than speed - figured I'd appropriate my brothers' gear and hike/camp the tar out of it, becoming the family's 1st Eagle Scout in the process. Poor Mrs. Q hates rain, but had to endure a lot of camping vacations with it on account of how much rain likes me and looks forward to meeting me for a day or two when I'm out. Needless to say when Son #1 joined Cubs, then Scouts, then Daughter joined venturing, and Son #2 followed suit, she was more than happy to see us out the door! I've been ASM and a Crew Advisor, and general grunt at district and council events. I'm currently an advisor on our council venturing committee. I love BSA4G, I hate that some scouters can't work with it, I especially feel that BSA's inability to drop marketing doublespeak makes matters worse. But ... I can't help remembering my 1st Venturing summit, and I was walking from camp and passed two young ladies on the trail. They returned my greeting with warmth and smiles, and I thought, "This is what I'm working for."

Scouters. But, I could have worked it for scouts as well.

@Buggie, if Women's Day had good hiking tips and back-country cooking recipes, I'd be on it like white on rice! Since I was a scout, girls have been writing into "Pedro" about how much they liked the magazine (either their brother's or the library's).

Nothing logical it, except for holed-up Madison Avenue ad men! It does not follow that scratching "boys" makes girls feel welcome. Most every young woman who joined my crew beamed with pride when I gave them their membership card, shook their hand, and said, "Welcome to the Boy Scouts of America." I once heard Tommy Hilfinger insist, "Never change your brand, ever." You know what would really be cool? A wrap-around cover, that has "Boy's Life" on one side, "Life for Girls" on the other. Same content in the pages between!

He followed with "just kidding." I'd say gimme a break, but I'm afraid one of you will post a picture of a limb you just fractured!

I'm heading for more fun than any scouter deserves to have. I told my troop about openings in my WSJ contingent and one boy approached me and said his dad cleared it for him go. While placing flags at the cemetery last night, I caught up with him, and he confirmed that he completed his application the minute he got home from our meeting. If the BSA finds a way to affirm athiests fulfill a duty God as they understand it, my own church will jump on sponsoring a unit. (Lots of unbelievers and sometimes their kids darken their doors.) If BSA's longest standing exclusion, the agist 18 year deadline for Eagle, is lifted, I would look forward to more direct-contact adults, a much simplified training stream ... less IOLS ... 1st class required for WB.

@JasonG172, it was about not making a high adventure your 1st adventure. More specifically about folding a conditioning program into your troop's regular schedule over 18 months. Because of the small class size, I was able to help scouters rough out some short-term objectives.

That's the thing, the girls I want like the product we have. If they don't know that they'll like it, changing the name of the product doesn't help. Keep the name, add a tag line: "also for girls who like scouting." Sell, sell, sell.

Branding imbeciles! What do they think girls who will engage the program to it's fullest really want? {I'm sorry moderators, I am really doing my best to not cast aspersions, so if you can suggest a more scout-like synonym I will use it.}

Already done. My Arab speaking friends call it Dae'sh.

I blame the media outlets for slighting the WOSM for forestalling death over the past 28 years. (I'll grant that may view may be a hazard of my profession - and Mrs. Q's which now has her on to tertiary care of folks who balked at restrictive sexual ethics yet failed or never attempted prophylaxis. Short story: it ain't pretty.) I also blame the media outlets for burying the lead over the beer tent. The G2SS never took a stance on prophylaxis, but lots of scouters resented being read the riot act about alcohol and tobacco.

Mamma don't allow no hiking/camping independently with your mates 'round here .... The real reformation: NESA extends open invites to Summit and Quatermaster (dare I say even GS/Gold) awardees.

I definitely agree about the timing. I felt 2020 to be a more sensible roll-out year. That would let BSA to assign 10,000 scouts the challenge of interviewing scouts from around the world (including Saudi and Pakistan) and learning something about how things are done in different WOSM organizations. I think some of the rush did have to do with not wanting to look like hosts with something to learn from their guests.

Why not? 'fraid he'll get a better score than you?🏁

Where did you read that BSA does not approve? The BSA has sent scouts to seven WSJ's since this policy was implemented. (Thanks to @RememberSchiff for the quote gathered by snopes.) It's a policy BTW, hewn from the WHO playbook. I remember the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports from that time. Not fun watching the start of a pandemic. (Graphs that looked like tracking planes off an airport runway.) Nobody knew if or how death would be forestalled -- especially in many third world countries. A world of very poor and desperate people quickly warmed to the use of latex, and death rates began to level off.

Communications MB: requirement 1 d (one of four options) Easy answer: "When any number of youth want to talk to an adult and there is no second adult registered leader over age 21." requirement 4 "First, sir, if you are a registered adult, please hold. I need to find one other registered adult for this meeting to go forward." Or, "This interview will be monitored by a second adult of age 21 or older."

Well, it's only fear mongering to those who dread it (rightly or wrongly).😃 Otherwise, it's just hyperbole.

If my briefcase is any indication, all kinds of crap that I don't need. That's why I usually don't carry a backpack or purse. Walking to get what I need is good excersize.