VOA resources

[Buffalo Skipper]

Does anyone know where I can find resources about organizing a VOA? Our youth have expressed an interest, and our Council Venturing Committee Chair wants me to present this to the Venturing Forum next month. I am intersted in either online or published information. Thanks.

[emb021]

The only published information on VOAs in is the second edition of "Here's Venturing: Guide to Implementing Venturing in your District or Council" #33466A. I was told at PTC this past summer that a new edition was coming out, but I guess the National re-org has seriously delayed that.

 

One of the courses at PTC also touches on VOAs, but not enough.

 

You can also get on the various Venturing on-line forums and query people who have setup and run VOAs.

 

There is no one way to setup a VOA. Different councils do it differently. There is no set name for them. VOA seems the most popular, but I have heard of YOA, TLC, VAC, and several others. VOAs ideally should be representative groups of Venturers from around the council, either made up of crew reps or district reps (if you have district VOAs). The VOA should take the lead in running the Venturing program within the council, such as coming up with Venturing activities and the like.

[shortridge]

I'd think that the VOA acronym would be avoided to try to head off confusion among folks who think that it's the Venturing Order of the Arrow. There's already that problem with the Corps of Discovery among some people.

[emb021]

I've yet to encounter anyone who thought that VOA meant "Venturing Order of the Arrow".

 

National put forth the term "Teen Leader Council", which I personally don't care for, as it says nothing about Venturing.

 

Most people like VOA because Venturing is part of the name, and it follows the prior Explorer Officers Associations that many councils had prior to Venturing.

 

I've seen a variety of terms used, but VOA seems to be the most widely used. Many Areas and Regional have also formed VOAs, and someone has even made a patch for them, which is widely used.

 

[Buffalo Skipper]

Well, restarting a VOA in our council has been one of my quiet goals for some time. Quiet, because I have always known that my initiative was not what was needed here, but that the Venturers needed to take ownership of this body in order for it to happen.

Last night we had a "special" Venture Forum meeting. Since the fall, I have slowly worked to include the Venturers (and of course the Sea Scouts) in the Forum, and our last meeting flopped, when several severe lines of spring storms rolled through just before and after our meeting time. But two did make it and insisted upon rescheduling to discuss several issues. That meeting was last night. I spoke to the group about the VOA, and then moved on to joint summer activities. A few minutes later, the Venturers literally stepped up (to the front) to begin leading the discussion and planning. I quietly slinked away and watched as they began coordinating activities for then next 5 months. Then they began talking about how to organize themselves as a VOA, and I was able to answer some questions they had about this. I identified an advisor who was willing to work with them, and they set a meeting for next week.

Looks like they are off to the races! It is always good to see these youth taking it upon themselves to act and organize. We have a strong group of leaders here, who appear to want to work together. I could not be happier to see this finally come together. One more thing to mark off my "to do" list.

Facilitate the formation of a Venure Officers' Association