walk in the woods

Well, my post included a random image from my clipboard so I deleted it. But the image from hell keeps reappearing from the dead! And it appears I can't delete it from my profile, so behold, an image from a Code 42 install. (From MattR: I set the image size to zero to get rid of it. This might be easier from a laptop.)

Not to defend National too much, but, they've made several attempts to reach underserved youth. That was part of the thrust of the ISP. Learning for Life, Scoutreach, Scouting and Soccer, generally fall into that category. They may be bad at it, but, they've certainly tried.

I doubt Summit expenses would be listed with Accounts Payable. Aren't Accrued Liabilities typically the cost of services rendered but no invoice has been received? I'm guessing Law Firm Fees and the like.

Actually I'm not proposing a federation of councils. If the National Council of the BSA were to be dissolved, there are no more regions, areas, or councils as we understand them today. What we call Councils today are independent Not-for-profit corporations licensed by the National Council (which in this scenario no longer exists) to deliver scouting. Areas and Regions have no meaning outside of the national organization because they are ust amalgamations of Councils, which are now undefined. Without National, there are just 270-odd NFP corporations scattered around the country that used to be licensees of the now defunct BSA, desperate to survive or merge. So let's assume the 270 NFPs are all given the BSA IP to use as their own. This is where the Thunderdome really gets rolling. Former boundaries are meaningless. Former relationship to the BSA is meaningless. The first mover gets the spoils. It's not too hard to imagine the NFPs in TX and OK merging into a much leaner organization known as the Red River Scouts of America, recruiting all the units possible within their former boundaries to be part of their program. Nearly all units agree because the RRSA owns the local rights to Eagle. With a critical mass of scouts, the RRSA ultimately consumes/recruits all the NFPs all the way up through the Dakotas to deliver the RRSA program, ultimately changing it's name to the Great Plains Scouts of America. In the northeast the same dynamic plays out with the formation of the New England Scouts of America around NY and points north, ultimately growing south through PA, MD, DE, and DC. It's not hard to imagine 5 or 6 new independent regional scout organizations in the US that have limited incentive to cooperate/coordinate since they all have the same rights to the IP. As the programs strengthen and diverge they'd start selling their brands across the country. This scenario is effectively the Power-5 Football Conference model (humor me and let's leave B1G and Pac-12 in the mix for now). You could argue that they submit to the NCAA so the scouting model would dictate a master organization. But, I believe the scouting model would play out differently because 1) no national scouting organization is going to spread money around like the NCAA, and 2) each of the regional scouting organizations would have everything they need with regards to IP. As for WOSM, it's an international bureaucracy that will go where the money leads them in order to perpetuate their existence. They'd be recruiting the new regional organizations in the US, not the other way around. Beyond that, WOSM has already set the standard for membership. I'm going by what's on wikipedia, so take that into account, but that page lists 40 different scouting organizations in the European Region (again, roughly the same geographical size as the US or certainly North America). According to the page of Liechtenstein, their organization only has 1,100 members. The wikipedia page for WOSM member Scouts Ireland list 40,000 youth members. So, Scouts UK already has relationships with a large number of small member organizations. Admitting regional US scouting organizations as members would only be exceptional because of WOSM's Nationalistic bias. And that assumes the US regional organizations even cared about WOSM at all. My money says the GPSA tells WOSM to get off. Now if the BSA IP goes to auction, we'll all be part of the LDS Scouts of America in the near future. And Philmont would be open. But, that's another thread. :)

Ah okay. Seems like a great argument for killing the NSP concept.

Question is does the USA need a National scouting organization? The EU countries are roughly the same geographical size as the US, roughly the same GDP, but with more population. The EU has how many scouting organizations? 30ish? Why not have the mega-councils referenced in this thread form individual organizations, give them all access to the BSA IP and let them innovate from there? Use the RBOC Model. They could all be part of WOSM.

I think you've identified an effect but might be missing the cause. I was never "taught" those things either. Growing up my mother, and every mother in town, kicked their progeny out of the house by 9am all summer weather permitting. We met up at the ball park, played baseball, or whatever we decided to do. There wasn't an adult in sight, no structured rules, so we figured it out on our own. Older kids looked out for the younger because their dad said look out for your kid brother. I'd argue we've taught kids to be dependent on adults and we tend to ostracize the natural leaders instead of letting the kids figure it out. We adults have come to prefer compliant kids rather than the energetic and we've taught them to be meek.

The official ad informing potential victims of the filing deadline has been running every couple hours on Golf channel all weekend. I assume the other NBC properties likewise.

https://www.scouting.org/resources/guide-to-advancement/mechanics-of-advancement/scouts-bsa/#

Define "patched up" in this specific case please. What is the time window between the first and last month's of service that the scout is claiming? How much of the patchwork was continuous? Was the scout otherwise active during that same window or did he disappear because he made the decision to pursue something else (all decisions have opportunity costs)? Is the 6 month continuous service applied consistently in the unit? Was it known in advance?

I was on higher ground. Dug 10 Miles of trenches at a minimum. Sorry!

you're getting off cheap. My council took full advantage of the nationally approved council service fee. It will be $126/youth for my kids to recharter for next year($66 national and $60 Council because they announced before National did), $75 or so dollars for adults.

Have someone on the committee sign for the CC and ask the IH to sign for the CoR. Nobody is checking signature cards or anything.

This would be interesting in that a separate management company would have no incentive to service only Scouts BSA units during the summer. Nor would there be an incentive to focus on Merit Badge work. They wouldn't be bound by BSA camp standards or the G2SS. They might cater to Scouts BSA units for a year or two but that wouldn't last long.

Seasonal Scouts is an interesting idea, although we'd need something with a different acronym. Maybe the program could work something like this: We'd divide a geographical region into chunks, maybe we'd call them Districts or Councils Each District or Council would have to recruit a few Counselors to work with the Seasonal Scouts The Counselors could coordinate occasional events to introduce the Seasonal Scouts and their parents to each other Rather than have the Seasonal Scouts join and move in/out of a traditional unit which could be disruptive to those units, they could just join the District/Council at Large At the occasional events (monthly? maybe quarterly) the Seasonal Scouts could meet other like-minded and similarly scheduled Seasonal Scouts Those like-minded and similarly scheduled Seasonal Scouts could coordinate activities together, with guidance from their Counselor(s) and Parents, even high adventure Since they'd be full BSA members, they could also join their District/Council contingents for High Adventure trips or other activities Council Summer campus could even have Seasonal Scout Troops where Seasonal Scouts could drop into a traditional summer camp experience with other Seasonal scouts. Sounds a lot like this, https://www.scouting.org/commissioners/lone-scout/.

I guess a GIF from the greatest post-apocalyptic movie franchise in history doesn't qualify as having fun @MattR? Smdh.

It was true then, and it's true today. Lone Scouting could have the ability to improve membership in rural areas that struggle to meet the minimum numbers of youth and adults for a BSA unit. Although I don't know that it could compete with 4-H/FFA combination, especially as they've broadened their appeal over the years. 4-H has advantages that scouting doesn't, e.g. taxpayer funding, but their model seems similar to what @David CO describes. And, they are clearly doing something right, 6 million kids, 500k volunteers, 3500 professionals according to one article I read. They seem to have pulled off STEM, and specialty clubs (i.e. Crews), and family involvement, and bridged the Rural/Urban divide. There might be lessons to be learned from both Lone Scouts and 4-H. Instead of formal Troops, why not have a Scouting club in an area if there are only 1 or 2 kids from 2 or 3 little towns? Let the kids and the parents set the program rather than being advancement driven. Maybe they only meet once a month and camp a few times a year. Maybe they have Deer Camp instead of Summer Camp? IDK, the possibilities are endless.

It would have taken way less words if you'd just said Chicago/C7. Anyway, the short answer is nothing is going to happen at this point because it's too late. The councils that can afford to pay will, and then they'll sit back to watch how everything shakes out. No board is going to take on the liabilities of a weak neighboring council at this point. The councils that only have liquidate/merge as their options will be liquidated. There will be a number of units that will be council-free for a period while the survivors hold cage matches for territory after the discharge. Done correctly, the cage matches will be great fundraisers!

People get into bad relationships. They think if I work harder I can change my partner and then things will be perfect! Or, if I work harder I can change myself to make my partner happy and then things will be perfect! Both scenarios are a lie and disastrous for both party's health. Now it's possible for the parties to find compromise to save their relationship but it requires change from both. That's the question you have to answer with regards to the Scoutreach unit. You have invested in the relationship and are struggling because your partner doesn't seem interested in changing to meet your vision of the relationship. Are you willing to compromise to meet them in the middle? Are they willing to change to meet you? If the answer to either is no then move on. This is a completely independent question from whether to be the SM for your old troop. On paper I like the idea of a 20-something SM but you'd need firm commitment from the committee and ASM corps especially if you want to Make any changes.

You are operating under the false premise that the G2SS is about safety. It's not. It's about BSA image management. They don't want boys competing with each other one-on -one for fear someone might feel bad.

Sorry @Navybone but you dismissed one series of reports based on bias. When shown a different report from a mainstream media outlet you deflect to Russians? That's laughable but typical. Beyond that, anyone who has actually picked up a copy of the SunTimes in the last 10 years knows exactly where their politics lie.

Well, here it is from NBC Chicago then. The organizer went on to say: Black Lives Matter Chicago organized the rally after overnight unrest throughout the city, with police saying that more than 100 individuals were taken into custody for a variety of offenses, including looting. “That is reparations,” Atkins said. “Anything they wanted to take, they can take it because these businesses have insurance.” Additional thought: The Sun-Times is strongly biased towards liberal causes....

Every time I drive down there.

Nah, more like the difference between being a pro and being a dog trolling for the misfortunate to exploit them. "In a wreck and need a check? Lxxxxx and Rxxx are the lawyers for you! Call 222 22 22!"