Venturing Crew /Troop joint custody

[Thunder]

Greetings folks;

 

I'm new to the forum but have been involved in Scouting as a youth and for the last 8 years with my Son, from tiger to life. He is a sophomore in HS now. Which also means its time to look for more opportunities for him in Scouting. Our troop has been talking about having a Venturing Crew for a few years now. The Scouts are ready for it so I am getting one chartered this week.

 

The real question I have is how do the troop and crew co-exist. At this point we will be an extension of the crew, but we will have our own committee. To help defray start up cost we will be finicial tied to the troop for the time being. Since the scouts will continue to be co-registered that makes sense for now.

 

I have asked the Troop leadership to meet with our fledging crew committee so we can establish some guidlines (some discussions made it feel like they were looking for a joint custody agreement). Anyone have Troop/Crew bylaws or the like to help delineate areas of responsibilities and obligations?

[Eagle92]

When the Venturing first split off of Exploring in 1998, my old troop did sucha thing as you described. it got started when the Venture Crew Chief, now called a Venture patrol Leader, went in to find out about the new recognitions, found out that they don't apply to his crew as they have been renamed Venture Patrols and that he would have to be in a Venturing Crew to be eligible( confusing isn't it)

 

So here is what they did. The venture patrol and the 18-20YO ASMs, got together and turned the now venture patrol into a Venturing Crew. by laws were written, i.e. they would be an all male crew that directly supported the troop, and set membership requirements, i.e. 14.5 and completed 8th grade, beat least First Class, and had held the position of PL for a minumum of 6 months.

 

They wore the Venturing green shirts and grey BDU pants (national hadn't come out with the shorts or pants yet, just advised folks to wear gray). They also wore the troop neckerchief with a Venturing pin on the tent of outr custom logo. All were duel registered.

 

They continued on with their troop responsibilities, but once per quarter they did their own thing. Also on troop campouts they camped together, as all the troop did was turn the venture patrol into a Venturing Crew.

 

All gear the troop had was usable by the crew. What got interesting was that the troop's COR/CC became the crew Adviser, and the troop's SM became the crew's COR/CC. So both units were fullly integrated.

[scoutldr]

Well in a perfect world: Your chartering organization owns both units and all the money and equipment. It's up to them to approve who gets to use what. But, both units are separate and distinct units and should be operated as such, otherwise one of the units doesn't need to exist. The fact that youth and adults are dual-registered is irrelevant. If you're going to operate as a troop most of the time with the exception of the "Crew" doing something special once a quarter, I don't see the point. Venturing is Venturing...with it's own methods, ideals, and advancement system. The only advantage is that the youth can stay until they're 21 and you can have girls join (are you prepared for that?).

[shortridge]

Welcome aboard!

 

Think of it less in terms of joint custody, and more as a co-parenting arrangement.

 

The troop and the crew are going to be both responsible for the equipment, meeting place, separate programs, etc. Both groups are working toward the same goal - the best interests of the Scouts/Venturers - but may have different ways of accomplishing those goals, much like divorced parents working cooperatively.

 

However, before you start setting bylaws, I'd take a very hard look at what the Scouts/fledgling Venturers want to get out of the new crew program, and what they're willing to do. That will largely guide how the committee sets things up from a logistical or administrative standpoint. Do they want to hang out and do cool stuff with girls? Are they interested in the new challenge of earning the Venturing recognitions? Do they want to specialize in a hobby or niche adventure activity that they can't do "babysitting" all the young'uns in the troop?

 

Depending on the answers, a Venture Patrol may be your best bet - and it doesn't require a whole new apparatus.

[Eagle92]

When I mentioned by laws, I should have stated that the YOUTH and 18-20YO ASMs cameup witht he Bylaws. In fact the VCL/PL and SPL worked together, did all the research, organized how they were gonna run the Venturing Crew, etc. BEFORE they talked the adult troop leadership and to the DE. they viewed it as an ooprotunity for further fun and advancement, while helping the troop at the same time. By the time they talked to the adults, it was practically a fait accompli.

[qwazse]

Hey Thunder,

 

I started our crew for about the same reason you did. (Plus my daughter was 12 at the time, did not fit in with girl scouts, and loved the outdoors just like her older brother.) A couple of years with our council's VOA and I learned that every crew does it differently. Ours ran finances separate from the troop because some of the adults at the time (especially the UC) felt that we would be a drain on troop resources. Turned out that the crew has been running budget surpluses and that money could have definitely helped the troop over the years.

 

Other crews were extentions of the troop, like yours. The crew committee became simply a subcommittee of the troop. On the other end of the spectrum, I knew one advisor/scoutmaster who was on pins and needles because his two committee's wouldn't "play nice" together. The youth got along fine, but he had to work around his adults.

 

Ideally, there will be some activities that are "troop only", some that are "crew only", and some that are joint endeavors. If your crew quickly recruits young women (as well as female adult leaders), this will in turn bring in boys who may not have been scouts, and eventually gaurantee that your crew has a different flavor than your troop. By working with a different set of youth, rather than a subset of the troop -- you may see the need for a separate treasury.

 

I think by-laws are inconsequential. Most people will never read them. Frankly, as long as adults feel welcome to contribute either group (regardless of their registration to troop or crew), you'll have a great time.