Using the Program of Neighboring Councils

[SeattlePioneer]

Around here, we have one neighboring council about thirty miles south and another thirty miles north. From time to time I check out the programs being offered by these neighboring council to see if there are things offered that would be useful to me.

 

I see the council to the north will be having their University of Scouting day in January. It looks like they might have some interesting classes, so I printed out their class offerings and I'll look them over to see if I want to attend.

 

That might include program offering by neighboring districts, too. Our district had its Cub Scout Rountable fail a year ago for example.

 

Anyone else have luck with these kinds of options?

[LeCastor]

Hey, Seattle. Here in Wisconsin we tend to partner up with other councils for programming. University of Scouting, Pow Wow training sessions, etc. but that's mostly for adult volunteers. Scout programming is typically council-centric. I don't think my Troop has taken advantage of an out-of-council program other that going down to Woodruff this summer.

[Eagle94-A1]

Several troop's in my district use the neighboring council's summer camp as it is approx. 45 minutes away compared to the home council's camp that is 1.5 hours away.

 

My pack and troop will use the neighboring council's scout shop as well since I work in the same town as the office.

 

We've had folks from out of council attend our IOLS training and UoS.

[SSScout]

This is known as the "Free Market" economy, yes? The good, available program, will attract the participants. Go forth and Scout, my friend.

[Stosh]

My boys decide what programs they wish to participate in. Information from council and out-of-council options are made available. The boys have chosen out of council, out of district programs rather consistently. Like SSScout says, it's a free-market out there. Improve your program and people will opt to come.

 

Stosh

[qwazse]

My only suggestion is get to know the training coordinator if you are going for anything that involves certification (e.g., CPR, leader-specific training, etc ...). I've had various problems getting certifications registered. Not everyone records things in an efficient or orderly manner. It's hard enough to chase these things down when you do have a rapport with council staff. Being a guy calling from out-of-council can make it harder.

 

Regarding program for your youth, if you a participating in a neighboring district's activity, be sure to call ahead and ask if there's anything your adults could do to assist in administering the activity.

[SeattlePioneer]

So....

 

Does anyonwe attend the Roundtables of neighboring districts or councils? If so, why?

 

 

My district Cub Scout Roundtable program collapsed a year ago. I'm thinking about starting to visit the program of neighboring districts to see what they are up to.

[Hueymungus]

Yup...go out of district all the time. Have not gone out of Council yet. Almost did about 5 years ago for BALOO. Could not find it anywhere. Have wanted to go to Chief Seattle U of Scouting for several years. (In Portland, OR here and several Professionals are from Seattle.)

[mashmaster]

Our council is huge so I haven't gone out of council but we do attend events of other districts. We even partner with other districts to hold shared training for things like BALOO or OWL. At my classes that I gave at our U of S, I've have scouters from other councils. I think it is worthwhile to learn and meet other scouters from other areas. I have learned new ways of thinking about things from them in the past.

[meschen]

I've been to a small number of out of council trainings. In the past, it's been due to a timing conflicts with by home council training schedule. But I've found that the neighboring council's HAT training blows ours away and this year the local council gutted U of S program, I may go out of council more in the future.