Cleveland Rocks

More context on this: This has been in the works for over two years. The diocese was originally willing to do facility use agreements so units could continue to meet at their facilities, like has been done in other parts of the country, even if they no longer chartered the units. But, they wanted to include a stipulation: the councils affected by this in their area (Lake Erie, Great Trail, Buckeye) would have to take out additional liability insurance policies to cover those affected units, before they would agree to facility use agreements. Great Trail said the annual premium for them alone would have been $45,000 - 50,000 for something like 14 units. The councils declined, saying they could not justify the additional expenses, and when negotiations ultimately broke down, the diocese then stated that the units not only would no longer be chartered to Youngstown Diocese parishes, but were not welcome in any capacity on church and school grounds. This apparently also affects Girl Scout troops, even though they don't charter units like the BSA does. One unit in the Warren area has a dilemma on their hands: some years ago their alumni association (who actually charters the troop) raised $250,000 to build a 2,500 square-foot program and resource building (they have LOTS of equipment that needs storing) on the grounds of the Catholic church who previously chartered them. Now they're trying to figure out what to do in light of this decision, since the building is on church property. It is believed that the Youngstown Diocese is the first diocese to take the "Go Nuclear" option from the NCCS Statement Regarding the Chartering of Catholic Units. Most dioceses have chosen to either keep things they way they are or enter into facility use agreements but no longer charter the units. https://nccs-bsa.org/download/updated-statement-regarding-the-chartering-of-catholic-units/

The 25 referenced are part of the BSA Rockwell collection currently on display at the Medici Museum of Art in Warren, OH. The museum has 65 pieces of the Rockwell collection in total, and all will be auctioned off in the next two years: Heritage Auctions in Dallas announced this week that 25 pieces from the collection will be auctioned in November, with the rest sold in the next year or two. Per the bankruptcy settlement, proceeds will go to survivors of childhood sexual abuse while in scouting. https://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/2024/08/act-fast-to-see-norman-rockwells-boy-scouts-works-at-this-northeast-ohio-museum-before-theyre-sold.html

No patrol competitions in Scoutcraft. No Scoutcraft area either. This isn't Summer Camp. With the exception of four defined programs that units will be attending together at pre-set dates/times, the entire program is up to the Scout. They have the total freedom to do whatever they want, whenever they want. Program areas are open each day from 9:00 - 5:00.

Emailed out last night from our neighboring council, from the NAM: Dear Scouting family, Moments ago we received the following very important message from our national council and wanted to share it with you in its entirety. BSA’s emergence from bankruptcy represents a pivotal milestone in the Boy Scouts of America (BSA)’s financial restructuring case and solidifies a path forward for survivors and the Scouting movement. To preserve its mission, the BSA has had to take some extraordinary steps over the past three years to reposition the organization for the future. The BSA has streamlined its professional staff and volunteer structure, reducing costs throughout the movement while maintaining essential services to support the local councils who were critical partners during the bankruptcy. To position Scouting for the future, the BSA will be required to increase the national annual membership fees for both youth and adults. This has been a difficult decision that involved the engagement of key stakeholders but is essential to building a strong, safe, and vibrant Scouting program for our nation’s youth. Effective August 1, 2023, the BSA will implement the following national membership fees which were approved by the National Executive Committee: $80 for Cub Scouts, Scouts BSA, Venturing and Sea Scouting participants ($5 increase) $60 for all adult volunteers ($15 increase to provide general liability insurance and enhanced background checks) $25 one-time joining fee for new program participants in Cub Scouts, Scouts BSA, Venturing and Sea Scouting (Not prorated and no change in fee) $30 for Scoutreach (Not prorated) $25 for Merit Badge Counselors (New Fee applies only for Merit Badge Counselors not already registered as leaders) $50 for Exploring participants Youth & Adult ($5 increase) $100 for a unit charter/affiliation fee (no change in fee) $15 for Scout Life magazine New Annual Membership Fee Process Announced – BSA Will No Longer Prorate Fees for New Members beginning August 1, 2023 Beginning August 1, 2023, all new youth and adult members who join Scouting will be enrolled in a 12-month membership cycle and BSA will cease prorating fees. Both youth and adults will pay the full annual membership fee and will renew their membership on the anniversary date of joining Scouting. All proration of membership fees will be eliminated. Each registered member of the BSA will receive an email notice with a registration renewal link beginning 60 days before the anniversary date they joined Scouting. Unit leaders will receive a copy of the email and should stay engaged in the membership renewal process just like rechartering. It is important to note, existing members will renew their membership during their normal registration/recharter cycle through March 2024. Moving forward all members will renew on their anniversary date. Existing members’ Anniversary date will be their unit recharter month. New members’ Anniversary date will be the month they joined. This new process will help streamline the rechartering and membership renewal process for units and councils. Additional information on this membership renewal process will be forthcoming in the very near future. Rules and Regulations - Local Council Annual Registration or Program Fees Under the Rules and Regulations of the BSA, a local council may charge an annual registration or program fee to youth members, adult program participants and Scouters whose primary registration is with the council in an amount not to exceed the amount of the applicable individual registration fee for their position established by the Executive Committee. In the new Annual Membership fee structure, a local council may charge a maximum of $80 per youth and $60 per adult. What does the National Membership Fee cover? The national membership fee helps cover the cost of essential services to the local council and units. Services include expanded liability insurance for those participating in approved Scouting activities, enhanced criminal background checks, a variety of program resources, youth protection and leader-specific training, and the development of intellectual property for national, council, and unit programs. As BSA moves forward, the organization will continue to look at the membership fee structure and how we deliver the Scouting program for future generations. Across the country and in each of our communities, we know that Scouting remains one of the most valuable investments we can make in youth today so they can become the leaders we will turn to tomorrow. Our dedicated volunteers, staff, and Scouting families make this possible. Thank you for continuing to support one of the most valuable opportunities available to young people today. Frequently Asked Questions What is driving the youth and adult membership fee increase? General Liability Insurance costs to protect volunteer leaders, staff, charter organizations, units, and youth. BSA restructuring costs. Enhanced Criminal Background check processes and investments in Youth protection and safety programs. What steps has the National Service Center taken to manage costs? Completed a new staff structure and streamlined both the professional workforce and the volunteer structure, while maintaining essential services. Reduced the National staff workforce to support essential services. Reduced expenses throughout the National organization. What is the new membership fee for youth and adults? Will the fees go up again? The new adult membership fee is $60, and the youth membership fee is $80 annually. The BSA will continue to evaluate the membership fees and keep our councils and unit leaders informed of any further changes to the fee structure. What benefits and services are provided to the local council with the new fee? Expanded GLIP protections for Chartered Organizations and volunteers. Enhanced Criminal Background checks. Investments in BSA safety resources and training. The employment of a new Youth Protection Executive and support staff. The National Council provides the following essential services to councils: The use of BSA Intellectual Property – Youth Safety, Cub Scouts, Scouts, BSA, Venturing, Camp Standards, Training and Program development etc. Legal Human Resources Information Technology – Rechartering, Scout Book Accounting Resources Council Services Support Membership & Marketing Support Crisis Communications and support Safety & Membership Standards Support A variety of training support for youth and adult leaders Health Insurance & Benefits What benefits and services are provided to the unit with the registration fee? Expanded General Liability Insurance protections for the chartered organization and unit leaders in the event of an incident. Program research and development including, Cub Scouts, Scouts BSA, Venturing, and Exploring. Access to Youth Protection Training, Incident Reporting, and Scouts First Helpline: 1- 844-Scouts1. Access to leadership-specific training for adult leaders. Investments in program literature and resource development. Ability to purchase Uniforms, Insignia, and Recognition for youth and Adults. Provides access to Membership, Marketing, and Brand Center resources. Provides important technology support including Scout Book, online registration, online advancement, and rechartering, My. Scouting, BeAScout, and BSA Brand Center for digital assets. Access to the four BSA High Adventure Properties including Philmont Scout Ranch, Florida Sea Base, Northern Tier High Adventure Base, and the Summit Bechtel Reserve.

Looks like SOAR is not dead. They just sent everyone an email earlier today saying that the number of customers saying that they didn't want it to go away was overwhelming. They loved the simplicity that SOAR offered as well as all the other features that the other options didn't fully offer, particularly for us vanity domain support and email groups tied to that domain. The owner of SOAR is transferring ownership to a company called Meridian Computing that looks to have the tenure and bandwidth to serve us going forward. The owner will stay on as a consultant. It also helps that the people at Meridian Computing are not only SOAR customers but also Scouters themselves. Looking forward to it all!

Maybe not . . . if you go to the FAQ that they created, there's this little tidbit posted to it Monday night: Is SOAR out of business? That will be determined later this week. Some individuals have reached out that may be a path for SOAR to continue. If that's really true, we might be willing to wait it out, depending on how long it might take to get something back up and running. For us, neither Troopmaster or TroopWebHost really provides us what we had with SOAR, and it'll cost us more money to get back to where we were before. Remember, TroopWebHost is saying it will be April 21 before they're able to import and support everything. That's still 2 1/2 weeks away.

The decision for us is that with SOAR, it wasn't just a calendar (we had subscribed to the SOAR calendar through Google Calendar, so people could see the events on their mobile devices, etc.), it's that with SOAR, the calendar was also for sign-ups, and you could track who was signed up, and whether they had paid, and if they were bringing guests, how many guests were they bringing, etc. The SOAR calendar also allowed us to allow others to sign-up for events, something Scoutbook doesn't allow for on their calendars. And, it was all easy-peasy to use. Like someone else said, you didn't need a Masters in Computer Science to use it.

Yes, we registered the domain name troopX.org over a decade ago, pre-dating my time in the troop. We then use that domain name to have our SOAR website be www.troopX.org instead of www.yourtroop.mytroop.us. SOAR also handled the email addresses using that domain, so we had info@troopX.org for inquiries to our troop, cmty@troopX.org for emails to our Troop Committee, summercamp@troopX.org for all communication with appropriate leaders regarding summer camp, treasurer@troopX.org for all emails to our troop treasurer, etc. And sending to those groups was very easy--if you wanted to send an email to the entire committee, you just sent an email (provided your email address had permission to do so) to cmty@troopX.org and it went to every adult who had a leadership role of Troop Committee on the roster. You didn't have to maintain separate email lists--SOAR looked at the person's role within the troop to determine what email lists they were on. The big one we used for everything was announce@troopX.org, which sent emails to everyone who we had an email address on--current Scouts and parents, alumni, friends, committee, etc. Our weekly newsletter was automatically sent out by SOAR to that group. SOAR handled all of that and send them as individual messages so it wouldn't get caught by spam filters. Can't do that with Scoutbook--you can only send to current Scouts, Scouters and families. Those two things are big for us, and I'd be curious to know if TroopMaster or TroopWebHost can replicate that.

One of the things we really liked about SOAR was that it allowed us to have our website with our own URL, and we could have any number of emails tied to that domain name. We also like the ability to keep lists of our alumni and families, as we regularly communicate with them, something Scoutbook does not allow. Does anyone know if TroopWebHost or Troopmaster allows either of those things? I've reached out to them both, but with it being the weekend when all this transpired, obviously no one is going to answer until Monday at the earliest.

This has been in the works for many months. The realignment takes place January 1, and all the names are all selected (although I only know the name of our new district, not the others). Our council is going from 8 districts to 5. Three of the 8 districts have Native American names (one is actually not a real name, but a combination of the first letters of 9 NA tribes that used to live in the area). A fourth is/was named Arrowhead, and while that's not an NA name per se, it has obvious NA references. A fifth is/was named (just recently in 2018!) after a local landmark that was used by NA tribes in the area. So, there were lots of NA names/references they are retiring in a week and a half.

Our OA lodge just voted last weekend to change the totem used on our lodge flaps and other media from a side-profile Native American in full headdress to a black squirrel. Our district (which had a Native American name) just merged with another and the contest conducted to come up with a new name had explicit instructions that Native American names or references could not be used in the new name.

I will second the comment on hot and humid days. I have one and it is not a good hat to wear in the summer. I switch to a bucket hat in the summer months, something that is cooler and is able to breathe a bit better. But I definitely wear mine in the cooler months.

The BSA says: if all those units were charted to the same CO, then yes, they could do an activity together. But if they are not, the BSA says no. This was the stance prior to the pandemic; it is just being reiterated again. Because you'd be planning an activity for units that your CO does not charter, that would prevent the activity from being permitted. The relevant quote from the BSA's COVID-19 FAQ (emphasis mine): ♦ Q: If my camp is cancelled, can my unit get together with other units and have our own camp? No. Chartering organizations play an important role in the program and activities for their chartered units. Chartering organizations promote well-planned unit program for the units they charter and encourage their units to have active outdoor unit programs. Chartering organizations are not authorized to plan, promote, or deliver programs for units outside of their charter. It is the role of the council to plan long-term or resident camps and the role of councils or districts to plan camporees and other outings during the year that give youth an opportunity to test their knowledge and skills in competitive events with other troops and/or patrols. When units with different chartered organizations do activities together, this becomes a district or council event and requires council approval. In fact, some states require such activities to be licensed.

Our council still awards them. We got JTE and 100% Boys' Life ribbons from them this year. Our troop has so many ribbons we have to periodically offload them because there are so many on the flagpole it gets hard to attach new ones at times. We get them at camporees, klondikes, summer camp, FoS, and more. I can't speak for the rest of the country, but our council and districts still use them and units still fly them from their flagpoles.

The BSA's guidance on whether you should or shouldn't store the AHMR electronically (you shouldn't): The forms should be maintained by a designated leader. To assure privacy, the forms should be carefully stored and used only as needed to provide for planning and rendering care. The AHMR should not be scanned, stored, or sent electronically except as specifically directed for a BSA national event such as the national jamboree or NOAC.