Demonstrating the Value of Scouting in Our Communities

[dkurtenbach]

What can individual Scout units do right now to significantly increase their visibility and show that Scouts and Scouting make our country and our communities better?  I'm asking what new and additional things units can do, beyond Eagle projects and annual service events like Scouting for Food.  What real and visible concrete actions and results, carried out regularly and frequently by units, can build good feeling in the community and demonstrate that Scouts and Scouting are worth keeping?  I'd like responses to focus on the ScoutsBSA program, because much of what troops do takes place out in remote areas away from their communities and out of view of the general public. 

A recent thread noted that BSA has joined with other youth-serving agencies to promote the #InvestInKids campaign.

The referenced article from ScoutingWire, https://scoutingwire.org/bsa-joins-multiple-youth-serving-programs-on-investinkids-campaign/, states that the campaign is designed to raise awareness and increase support for youth programs across the country.  Meanwhile, on the BSA Restructing website, there is an infographic, "3 Things to Know Now That the BSA Has Filed for Chapter 11," https://www.bsarestructuring.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/3-Things-to-Know-about-the-BSAs-Restructuring.pdf.  The third item on that list is, "You can make a difference," and includes the following:  "Plan or attend service projects or public events to show your community the value of Scouting."  What would it take to actually "raise awareness" and "show your community the value of Scouting"?

One of the reasons we often hear for the steady decline in BSA membership over the last few decades is that Scouting just isn't relevant to today's society and today's youth.  So what can ScoutsBSA troops reasonably commit to doing in public, in their communities, to change that narrative?  How can a troop actually alter or add to some part of its program to meet this need?

 

 

[Eagledad]

Something I turned around when I was on District was what I called "stealth Scouting for Food". District (council) started streamlining the process by dropping off donation bags at the home mail box or door on Saturday and picking them up at the door the next week. First off, that requires TWO weekends of a unit agenda, not one. Second; the public never met any of the scouts during either days.

We found that folks really enjoyed meeting our scouts when they went door to door asking for donations. The community got to actually meet and talk with the scouts. Our scouts introduced themselves with their name and unit number before asking for the donations. And we got a ton of donations. Units that went door to door increased donations 30 to 40 percent. Service projects should be planned so that the public personally gets to meet and observe scouts in action. 

I'm not sure why, but the Cub Scouts enjoyed the door to door Scouting for Food more than the Troop scouts. Maybe it has something to do with the cute shy 7 year old in a uniform too big for him holding a scouting for food sack half his height. But , packs that went door to door always came back with more donations than the cars could hold.

Barry

[dkurtenbach]

“The Boy Scout movement merits the unstinted support of every American who wants to make his country and his world a better place in which to live.”
          -- General Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1946, as quoted on page 10 of BSA's Informational Brief.

BSA's "Informational Brief" (Document 4) filed in the BSA's bankruptcy case is intended to detail background information about the BSA organization, the sexual abuse lawsuits, and the BSA's intent and plan in filing bankruptcy.  The following quote from page 15 of that Brief is pertinent to this topic:

• Scouts BSA. After Cub Scouts, youth participants progress to Scouts BSA. The Scouts BSA program focuses on service to others, community engagement, leadership development, respect for the environment, and personal and professional growth. . . . At patrol and troop meetings, Scouts engage in knowledge- and skill-based challenges, team building exercises, and community service projects, such as cleaning parks and other public spaces, enhancing nature preserves, building trails in wildlands, constructing playgrounds, creating libraries, collecting meals for food banks, visiting with the sick or elderly, or responding to national emergencies. 

(Bold+italics emphasis added.)  As a reminder of where we are as an organization, I note that footnote 10 on page 6 of the Brief includes the following:

• The BSA’s declining Scouting membership and associated revenue in recent years is another factor that prompted the BSA to review its strategic options. As of December 2019, the BSA had approximately 2.1 million registered Scouts, down from approximately 2.6 million Scouts as of 2012. Compounding this decline, as of December 31, 2019, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints concluded its 105-year relationship as a chartered organization with all Scouting programs around the world, including the BSA. The effect of this change is expected to remove approximately 400,000 Scouts from the BSA’s Scouting programs. 

The bankruptcy is intended in part to make it possible for the Scouting program to continue long after the current controversies are resolved.  During the bankruptcy, local unit Scouting can and should continue carrying out our mission and purposes, as always.  But maybe this is a time when local Scout leaders and Scouts have a larger-than-usual role to play in the fate of BSA by building goodwill in the public, and by showing that Scouts are not some relic of the past who dress like junior park rangers and run around in the woods tying knots and making s'mores.  Maybe it is time for local Scouts and Scout leaders to intentionally do more in their unit programs to show that Scouting has value to the community right now; intentionally do more in their unit programs to demonstrate by our actions that we do have a focus on service to others and community engagement; and intentionally do more in their unit programs to "merit[ ] the unstinted support of every American who wants to make his country and his world a better place in which to live."

[qwazse]

33 minutes ago, dkurtenbach said:

... Maybe it is time for local Scouts and Scout leaders to intentionally do more in their unit programs to show that Scouting has value to the community right now; intentionally do more ...

Do more? I'm sorry, but two of us, instead of guiding three patrols to implement three different independent hikes, campouts, and service projects, has to pick one activity in our mutual free time where we can chaperon two dozen scouts. Presumably that's the most scouts. Which means it will probably be the lowest common-denominator project. Furthermore, our most capable adults, those age 18-20, need two other 21+ olds. Let that sink in. Whatever scouters may do under the auspices of BSA, they are only capable of doing it at a fraction of the effect that they could 15 years ago!

I see very few adults doing less in their community. Lot's of rolled up sleeves. But, what's happened is for the past decade, they are unable to multiply their efforts by empowering their scouts.

BSA has made clear that all of those billions of hours that scouts spend just doing good in their community without an adult leader doesn't count as BSA activity.

I don't spend my time trying to do more, but rather to go where I'm most needed. And frankly, if a seasoned scouter can be more effective mobilizing community members (youth or adult) outside of the BSA to do good in this world, he/she should do so.

[dkurtenbach]

Do your hikes go through a local park?  Or do you drive by one on the way out?  Scouts picking up trash for fifteen minutes as an add-on to an already-planned activity.  It can make a difference.

[MattR]

As soon as the weather gets nice, start doing meetings outdoors. We've done search and rescue mock ups. I'd think in town map and compass activities would be fun. We did a treasure hunt in our town once. It took a lot to setup but it was fun. Do it at a park, with a simple cookout, with scouts wearing class B's and a necker, at about the same time the little soccer kids are doing their thing. Stick with the buddy system.

This would be more fun than a typical meeting and it's the best type of advertising.

[Thunderbird]

9 minutes ago, MattR said:

As soon as the weather gets nice, start doing meetings outdoors. We've done search and rescue mock ups. I'd think in town map and compass activities would be fun. We did a treasure hunt in our town once. It took a lot to setup but it was fun. Do it at a park, with a simple cookout, with scouts wearing class B's and a necker, at about the same time the little soccer kids are doing their thing. Stick with the buddy system.

This would be more fun than a typical meeting and it's the best type of advertising.

 

What did you use as the "treasure"?

[MattR]

1 hour ago, Thunderbird said:

 

What did you use as the "treasure"?

Pictures of things: in stores, a pizza shop, an ice cream store, there are some fountains and sculptures.

[Thunderbird]

44 minutes ago, MattR said:

Pictures of things: in stores, a pizza shop, an ice cream store, there are some fountains and sculptures.

So like a scavenger hunt using smartphones / cameras?  Sounds like fun!

[qwazse]

3 hours ago, dkurtenbach said:

Do your hikes go through a local park?  Or do you drive by one on the way out?  Scouts picking up trash for fifteen minutes as an add-on to an already-planned activity.  It can make a difference.

@dkurtenbach, think about the you in "your hikes".

Of course I do my hikes through local parks and pick up litter along the way. And, once upon a time on a normal day, if a patrol would want to a similar hike, I'd give them guidance. Multiple patrols, multiple hikes, multiple trails. Lots of community exposure.

So ...

Under current regs, not only would I have to change my hike plan, to be in the vicinity of all three patrols. I would have to pull a 2nd registered 21+ adult from his/her activity, and probably pull all of those patrols together. Relative to previous decades, that yields less area covered, less litter collected, less trail repairs, less public exposure to youth operating under the auspices of the BSA.

Or, I could encourage youth to get skills, get their buddies (who might also include soccer kids after the game)  together, plan, ask me for suggestions on improving that plan, cover real territory in this world, on their own time, maybe be in a real position to forestall death. It won't count for "under the auspices of BSA" because of YPT, but it won't be a 15 minute stop, spit and polish the nearest eyesore for publicity's sake either.

To be clear, I am very much for troops being active in their communities. If any good comes of camp closures, it will be more more camping nigthts in city parks, more day activities like orienteering races or dutch oven cook-offs next to soccer fields, more town hikes in uniforms, and less time on the road. But, let's not fool ourselves into thinking that anything like that gives us more exposure than each patrol posted at an intersection, a couple scouts at each corner, helping folks cross streets, with adults nowhere to be seen.

[dkurtenbach]

Thanks for giving it some thought.

[Mom2Scout]

Have you considered Messengers of Peace?

https://www.scouting.org/international/messengers-of-peace/

If you put a M of P emphasis on a service project and share, you are spreading the good that scouting can do for a community.  Also, don't be shy about letting local media know when you are up to a service project.  Our troop has increasingly been relying on committee members to keep 2 deep for events to make sure we have coverage. 

Hopefully, M of P will inspire kids to do service outside of their scouting.

[dkurtenbach]

3 hours ago, Mom2Scout said:

Have you considered Messengers of Peace?

https://www.scouting.org/international/messengers-of-peace/

If you put a M of P emphasis on a service project and share, you are spreading the good that scouting can do for a community.  Also, don't be shy about letting local media know when you are up to a service project.  Our troop has increasingly been relying on committee members to keep 2 deep for events to make sure we have coverage. 

Hopefully, M of P will inspire kids to do service outside of their scouting.

Great resource!  Offers a specific goal to work toward, ideas on what to do, and recognition for the effort.  For example (from the website) -- 
-------

Here are sample project ideas:

Personal Dimension

• Host a holiday party for children of prison inmates.
• Collect books and magazines for inner-city schools.
• Conduct entertainment programs, including skits and plays, at a nursing home.
• Make and donate gift boxes to be distributed by Feed the Children.
• Assist organizations that provide home maintenance services for those in need.
• Clean a Habitat for Humanity house before the family moves in.

Community Dimension

• Create a community prayer garden.
• Replace graffiti with peace-related murals.
• Host conflict-resolution workshops in a local school.
• Plan a sports tournament that brings together kids from different segments of the community.
• Serve as “victims” for a county EMT or first responders training course.
• Assist in the packaging of medical supplies for developing countries.

Environmental Dimension

• Clean up a campground, a local park, a river, or a school parking lot.
• Assist with a shoreline-restoration project.
• Collect and dispose of household chemicals, batteries, and other potentially dangerous waste products from the residences of shut-ins.
• Remove invasive species and plant native trees in a park.
• Volunteer at a community recycling center.
• Clear brush from fire buffer zone.

For tips on conducting successful projects, visit www.scouting.org/awards/journey-to-excellence/unit-tips

 

 

 

[SSScout]

Better visibility ?  More notice of How Scouting Improves the Community ?

** Signage outside of meeting places "" Scout Pack/Troop/Ship/Post meets here …… ""

**Help your Scouts to not be embarrassed to "BE " a Scout.  Wear the tshirts. Wear the Scout Caps.  Do the School flag raising.  Set up a model campsite at "Back to School Night" (yeah, even in middle and high school).   I drive a charter bus for schools sometimes. When we are going to a camp, there will be lots of gear to load. I will ask, "have I got any Scouts out there?" and when the three or four hands go up, I know I've got some expert help in loading.  I make sure they get noticed !

*** Wear the Scout stuff your own adult self.  Start the conversation when someone askes about your jacket or belt buckle or cap.

*** Sure, volunteer your Scout and units for community stuff. Street fairs,  county fairs,  road cleanups,  and make sure the Media know about it....  

"How come no one joins our unit"?   ask your Scouts. It is NEVER about why they join. It is about why they STAY.....

[MattR]

I just got back from a campout and the weather was great. A lot of scouts were playing some version of hide and go seek for a long time and having a lot of fun. So, we're thinking of having a bunch of weekly meetings this summer that are just kids games in parks or primary schools, with the scouts wearing their class B's and a necker, and the adults ready to talk to parents. Add some leftover appliance boxes from big box stores for hiding spots if there aren't enough trees and we'll have some fun. We're thinking of how to invite neighbors and one idea is knock on some of the same doors we hand out food bank fliers to, and invite their kids to join us. We're looking for the 9-12 year olds so we'd like to do it along with a pack.