Total Available Webelos (TAW)

[scoutldr]

Just got a printout in the mail from the DE, with a list of all TAW in the District (based on age and grade level). We (troop unit leaders) were admonished to call each one on the list and ensure that they cross over to a troop. What struck me was that there are only 71 names on the list, coming from 21 packs in the district. There are 17 troops in the district, ranging in size from 70 scouts to 6. The largest group of Webs comes from the largest Pack, sponsored by an evangelical church, which is a pretty closed community (only members of the church belong to the scout units, with few exceptions), and one could assume that those Webs will automatically join their own troop, which is now the largest in the District. A coworker used to be active in those units, and they don't participate in popcorn, FOS or most other district/council activities, although they do make an annual token cash conribution to Council. Because they have good numbers, the District leaves them alone. That's neither here nor there, however.

 

My question is, how does that compare to your experience? We have not had any new Webs join our happy little troop in 2 years. It's my observation that there simply are not that many Cubs out there looking for a troop, and there are too many troops to feed, many of which have less than 10 members registered. There are 6 troops within a 3 mile radius of my house.

 

Maybe this has always been the case, and I am just now seeing the numbers?

[Eagledad]

What is worse, at least in our district, less than half will join a troop.

 

Barry

[Lisabob]

I hate to add to this list of problems but I know the TAW we received in our area was riddled with error, listing boys who had dropped out or crossed over a year or more ago. The effect is to inflate the # of boys who appear to be available.

 

Still I think it is easy to be complacent. If there aren't that many webelos then troops should be worried because after all, most of our boys do come from cub scouts. What are all those troops in your area doing to help cub packs provide a strong program, so that there will be more boys who are more likely to join the troop down the road a little ways? Sure troop leaders (and boys) will say, this is not our problem. And to a certain extent that's true, until all the boys you have now age out and the troop has to fold because there are/were no new recruits coming in down the line.

 

 

[scottteng]

I guess it all depends on the area you are in. Here in the go-go growth area of west Florida we seem to have Webelos and cubs coming out our ears. There are about seven from our pack and we have been troop shopped by several others and have been told to expect three more tomorrow. A brand new pack was started this past year by our scoutmaster and in one school nite for scouting 60 cubs were signed up along with a complete leader and committee team. The people with kids move to where they can afford to live and there are jobs available the nice weather is just a pleasant bonus.

[BrentAllen]

"We (troop unit leaders) were admonished to call each one on the list and ensure that they cross over to a troop."

 

Admonished? You mean you weren't going to do that on your own?

 

"We have not had any new Webs join our happy little troop in 2 years."

 

Anyone else seeing a connection here?

[Cubmaster Randy]

I only have the numbers from last crossover(2006), but I do know that the number of Webelos class this year is larger than last year.

Last years numbers from our district was over 90% retention from Webelos to Boy Scouts. We had 200 Webelos who crossed over from 24 different packs into 13 different troops. 6 of those troops are within a 5 mile radius of my house. We are forming a 7th troop because the those troops are between 40 and 100+ scouts. The 40 scout troop does not have the facilities to get much bigger. Most are in 60-70 scout range

 

We have a district volunteer with the position of Webelos Transition coordinator. She reminds webelos den leaders to visit troops, who is crossing over and who is not. if not, why not

The Scoutmaster then verifies who joined their troop. Not sure what the retention after 1 year is though. I suspect it is not as good, but that would varies by troop. As a Cubmaster, I have never seen the list of TAW, but not sure if anyone would use it. We have Webelos Laisions in both the troops and packs which coordinate the activity between the units

 

 

 

[scoutldr]

Thanks for the slam-dunk, Brent. Appreciate your helpful comments.

 

For the record, this was the first time in memory that such a list has been distributed. I had not decided how we were going to respond to it. I was just interested in others' experience. It does no good for me to call 15 Webelos who live at the other end of the district, 15 miles away. I don't have time to be playing phone tag with answering machines every night. Been there.

 

I like Randy's district's "Webelos Transition Coordinator"...great idea!

[ASM915]

Last Nov. whenI approached our DE about a school roundup, he also passed along a Taw list for 2006 crossovers who apparently had not joined a troop. Last month we sent out invitations for a Troop Open House and then followed up with a phone call 3-4 days beforehand.Out of the 13 boys within 5 miles, 2 had joined other troops. we had 4 crossovers this year, 2-3 each of the last 2 years. Prior to that, the former CM was affiliated with a troop at his church 9 miles away and had managed to pull at least half the the crossovers down to that troop even though they were our feeder pack. Other then this troop we only have competition from one other troop within 4 miles.

This year we (the troop) are making a consorted effort to be involved with the Webelos Dens and with being more visible at pack functions.

[Lisabob]

ASM915, may I make a suggestion? Please consider that when you refer to the pack as "our feeder pack" in the way you did in your prior post, it most likely causes some hard feelings or at least some muttering under the breath among pack leaders and parents. While many packs do have a close relationship with a particular troop or couple of troops and there's nothing wrong with that, the sense of entitlement that "our feeder pack" suggests, is problematic because they aren't yours. Ideally we should be encouraging all webelos to find a troop that they like and that suits their needs and then join it rather than viewing things through this sort of a territorial lens. And your troop might not always be the best fit. Expecting that feeder relationship usually means that the webelos boys don't know they CAN look at other troops and so they don't. And perhaps that's a small part of the reason we lose such a high % of boys in the first few months after cross-over (nation wide - I have no idea about your particular troop); because there was a poor match between boy and troop to start with.

 

 

[BrentAllen]

scoutldr,

Sorry about the slam dunk. With no new Webelos in 2 years, isn't your Troop leadership getting very worried? I would think flashing red lights and warning sirens would be going off! That list of 71 Webelos appears to be your best list of prospects, so I don't understand the reluctance to contact and compete for them.

Around here, we are the only Pack this isn't affiliated with a Troop. The competition for our boys varies with the different troops around us. If a Troop has a strong feeder Pack (defined as a Pack with the same CO as the Troop) then they don't compete quite as strongly. Opposite for the others. There are 4 Troops within a few miles of my house, 2 with around 60 members each, one with around 45 - 50, and the last is around 35 - 40.

We have 13 Web II's on paper, and 11 will cross over. The Troops usually don't contact us, we contact them. That will change with whichever Troop my son joins. As Membership Vice-Chair for our District, I will be pushing for much more communication between Troops and Packs.

We have lots of Webelos crossing over into Troops. The problem for a lot of troops appears to be keeping them in the program. But I guess that is a subject for another thread.

[scoutldr]

Actually the troop leadership is getting tired. The three of us formed this troop 15 years ago, and our own sons aged out 10 years ago. Getting new parents to step up to the plate has been frustrating. I purposely have backed away from camping (due to health reasons and to give others an opportunity to serve!) and as a result, have had to cancel some outings due to lack of 2 deep leadership. Seems like when it comes to spending a weekend in the woods, everyone has better things to do. The SM has made it known he would like to step down, but there is no one interested in taking over. So when the day comes, we will give ample notice to our UC (yes, we finally have one after 15 years!), and then quit showing up. We will not desert the current group of scouts, but we're not real interested in "competing" for new ones, either. I have formed four units over the past 35 years, and three of them are still chartered, so it's not an easy decision to let one fold. But we can't do it all forever. And our CO is in "name only"...they don't care one way or the other.