DE just for Venturing?

[CNYScouter]

I have read in many postings about a council having a DE just for Venturing.

 

How many of you out there actually have a DE just for Venturing Crews?

 

I asked my DE if anyone at council was handling Venturing Crews and basically said that he had never heard of a council operating that way.

 

In my council Crews are basically lumped in with Troops and handled District by District.

The problem I see with this is that only one district has more than 4 Crews in it so most crews get very little support because there a so few in any one District.

 

I received a list of all the Crews/Ships in the council and together we have 35 units but not a single one of professional staff at council has any or understanding experience (nor do they seem interested in learning) of the Venturing program.

 

Being the Venturing Roundtable Commissioner I have heard about the lack of support for Venturing Crews/Ships in our council from a few Advisors.

 

This is only one of many examples I have seen that show lack of support for Venturing in my council.

 

Next month instead of a District Commissioners meeting there will be a council wide commissioners meeting at our council office with our SE, ASE and DEs present to discuss any concerns and issues we are having and I want to bring the lack of support for our Venturing Crews up.

 

With 35+ Crews in my council I think there are enough units to start getting things going on the Venturing side of things.

 

[Eagle92]

Usually it's your larger councils that have a Venturing Exec. My council use to have one, except it was back when Venturing was still Exploring. She really didn't do a great job as the DEs still had to administer to the posts, and when it did change to Venturing the crews. When she left, the council never replaced h

[emb021]

Ideally, Venturing should be supported by the districts as one of the 'traditional' programs. So they should be supported by the DEs, have a Venturing Roundtable (now called Monthly Program Forum) alongside Cub Scout and Boy Scout RTs.

 

The idea of having all the Venturing Crews within a council be part of a separate, council-wide 'venturing district', as noted, is an idea from the old days of pre-1998 Exploring, and really not what should be done.

 

Sadly, because too many districts will have few or no crews, what crews out there too often get little support from their districts.

 

HOWEVER, that said, its usually a good idea (and one that is recommended) that there be one of the professionals on staff tapped as the "Venturing Staff Advisor". This would be in addition to their other duties. In most cases, this would probably be a DE. Best way to support Venturing is having a Council Venturing Chair, Venturing Staff Advisor, and a Council Venturing President (youth). These are your council 'key 3' of Venturing, similiar to the OA. (the council Venturing president would be your VOA president).

 

[Eagle92]

Not to change the subject, but I am in reference to district support, are the Venturing Roundtables successful? Need to know and some advice as I was asked this weekend to be a venturing RT Commissioner. Told them I would have to think abut it since I am trying to back away from Scouting commitments for a few months. Plus I will be a TC DL next year, and know I will have my hands busy with that;)

 

[OldGreyEagle]

A note regarding the lexicon of Venturing, there is no such thing as a Venturing Roundtable, its a Venturing Forum. Done just to confuse I am sure. My first reaction to having a "just Venturing DE" is great, then I shrink back. One of the issues I see with the integration and acceptance of Venturing is that it keeps getting split apart of Council actions. For example, in the Council I serve, there is a Venturing Committee. AS I look at the COuncil Hierarchy, I don't see a Boy Scout, Cub Scout, or Exploring Council Committee why do we need a Council Venturing Committee?

 

Why a Venturing DE? I can see having one Professinal well versed in the program, but does that then excuse the other Pros in the COuncil from learning anything about Venturing? WHen Venturing comes up, the other Pros think, well thats Venturing Pros area and then they don't bother with it? Splitting Venturing apart does not help any program. Ventuting needs to be part of the Districts and thought of at the Disitrct Level, it doesnt help if its a Distrct unto itself

[emb021]

"AS I look at the COuncil Hierarchy, I don't see a Boy Scout, Cub Scout, or Exploring Council Committee why do we need a Council Venturing Committee?"

 

While you don't have a Cub Scout or Boy Scout Council Committee, it IS recommended to have a Council Venturing committees. One of their main purposes is to support the council Venturing Officer Association, which are the youth who drive the venturing program in your council.

 

 

[emb021]

"Not to change the subject, but I am in reference to district support, are the Venturing Roundtables successful?"

 

The answer is... it depends.

 

You need enough crews in your district to have a successful Venturing Roundtable (or Venturing Monthly Program Forum, which is the new name) and which will send people to the event. Sadly, you will find that some crews just don't or won't bother to participate (LDS Crews mainly, but others not well versed in how the BSA works or have very non-traditional crews just won't come out).

 

This is why in many places, you see Council-wide Venturing Roundtables (maybe not monthly, but atleast bimonthly or quarterly), until you can build up enough crews in a district to have them at that level. Which will take time, and won't make the council-wide RTs go away until all or most districts can do it themselves.

 

Another thing to keep in mind is that Venturing RT, unlike Cub Scout or Boy Scout RTs, include the youth. You will get some adults upset at this who don't know that's the norm. You want to encourage crew officers and advisors to attend them. But that can get hard, because then it become 'yet another meeting to attend', so you have to have a great program to give them a reason to come.

 

 

[nldscout]

CNY,

 

 

In same council as you. We had a person at the office responsible for Ventureing when it started, plus quarterly venturing RT's.

 

No one attended. I went twice, there were 3 units represented, so it just died off.

[SR540Beaver]

My council has a Venturing DE. I'm not involved in Venturing even though our unit/CO has an associated Venturing Crew that some of the boys are part of. To my outsider view, it has always appeared that Venturing just has not caught on and most people (including the Crews) can't quite figure out what they are. While there is "structure" and uniforms and awards available, many Crews I know of just don't use them and they die from lack of structure. I think that throwing a DE at branch of the BSA programs is an attempt to save what often appears as a floundering program. I don't intend that to sound like I am against Venturing. I'm just somewhat indifferent to it because I have more than I can say grace over with Scouting to get myself involved with it.

[Stosh]

When I worked for a council, I was exclusively Exploring. In my tenure I set up about 45 posts, so at one time they did exist.

 

There are no Venturing forums in my council now. I have put in 9 years as a crew advisor and can't get the leader knots because there aren't any forums, RT's don't count.

 

Crews survive like any other program. If they meet the needs of the youth, they survive, if they don't, they fade away.

 

Stosh

[GNX Guy]

Contrary to what was stated above. Venturing Leaders DO have a roundtable. It is called a Venturing Leaders Roundtable. (See page 337 of the Venturing Leaders Manual Pub#34655E.

 

 

[emb021]

"Contrary to what was stated above. Venturing Leaders DO have a roundtable. It is called a Venturing Leaders Roundtable. (See page 337 of the Venturing Leaders Manual Pub#34655E."

 

Was.

 

Venturing Roundtables were recently renamed "Monthly Program Forums". The Monthly Program Forum book is basically the same book as the previous Venturing Roundtable book. (but for some reason they haven't changed the office patches for the Venturing Roundtable Commissioner and Staff...)

 

 

BUT, the problem is that in many districts, there aren't enought crews to successfully have Roundtables/Forums. Hence, as I noted previously, in many councils its done at a council level, at least quarterly or bimonthly. As the Scouter's Key/Training Awards only require you to attend 4 Venturing Roundtables a year, that helps.

 

 

 

[BadenP]

I guess I am in an unusual council because our venturing program is thriving. Part of the problem as I see it are crews with no focus or general interest, many of them wander trying to find what to emphasize and failing to find their niche crash and burn in the first year.

 

Our crew has an outdoor emphasis with kayaking, rafting, and canoeing added in. There is a climbing crew, cave exploring, wilderness survival, backpacking, historic trails, civil war, 3 sea scout ships, GPS crew, community service crew, etc, etc. Yet we all get together for a venturing rendevous twice a year and have a blast together. The adult and youth leaders meet every other month to plan events and support any crew having problems.

 

Every crew has selected a uniform unique to their speciality with the venturing logo prominently displayed, except the civil war crew, and the crews take an active part in the council putting on demo's for packs and troops. The DE that works with us also has a district since numbers and money drive the council. So I guess we are just doing it right and we have the council solidly behind us. So Venturing can and does work if it is done right and crews don't look at themselves as isolated and alone.

[emb021]

"I guess I am in an unusual council because our venturing program is thriving."

 

Venturing is working/thriving in many councils. I personally feel that this is due to adults with a vision who (ideally) work with the youth to get Venturing up and running. And I mean beyond a crew here or there doing well, but having new crews getting up and going because of the work of others to promote and support Venturing.

 

"Part of the problem as I see it are crews with no focus or general interest, many of them wander trying to find what to emphasize and failing to find their niche crash and burn in the first year."

 

I would agree. You need some 'emphasise' to kind of make your crew stand out. Another thing I see with short-lived crews are the ones formed by a certain group of friends, who make no effort to ensure the crew survival after they age out/loose interest.

 

"Our crew has an outdoor emphasis with kayaking, rafting, and canoeing added in. There is a climbing crew, cave exploring, wilderness survival, backpacking, historic trails, civil war, 3 sea scout ships, GPS crew, community service crew, etc, etc. Yet we all get together for a venturing rendevous twice a year and have a blast together. The adult and youth leaders meet every other month to plan events and support any crew having problems."

 

That's great to hear. Too often I hear the attitude with some specialized crews that if 'you aren't giving us exactly what we do in our crews at your district/council venturing events, forget about us coming'. One would think that despite their specialitizes, they can still come together to do fun stuff.

 

"Every crew has selected a uniform unique to their speciality with the venturing logo prominently displayed, except the civil war crew, and the crews take an active part in the council putting on demo's for packs and troops. The DE that works with us also has a district since numbers and money drive the council. So I guess we are just doing it right and we have the council solidly behind us. So Venturing can and does work if it is done right and crews don't look at themselves as isolated and alone."

 

Again, that's great. And many times its hard. Some crews just don't want to (for whatever reason) work with the district/council stuff. Some may be because they had to grow and survive without it, so that once someone comes along and tries to setup roundtables/forums, events, etc, they have an attitude of 'we never needed that before, so why get involved'. Its like they aren't even willing to meet you half way on things.

 

[troop2dad]

Our Council hired a new DE for Venturing. I am very impressed as our crew just started 2 months ago but we get a ton of support. I think one success is the new DE is younger and can relate to our crew members. I hope to see really cool things ahead.