Congratulations to Russell Etzenhouser, who will serve as Scout executive of the Orange County Council in Santa Ana, California, effective December 1, 2019.

Russell began his Scouting career as an Exploring executive at the Hiawatha Council in Syracuse, New York. He moved on to become the camping director and later director of camping services of the Orange County Council in Costa Mesa, California. He was promoted to director of field service of the Circle Ten Council in Dallas, Texas, and then to Scout executive of the Greater Niagara Frontier Council in Buffalo, New York. 

Russell is an Eagle Scout who enjoys hiking and Scouting with his family. Russell and his wife, Beth, have two children.

Please join us in congratulating Russell in the comments below as he joins in partnership with the volunteers and staff of the Orange County Council to deliver quality Scouting experiences to the young people of the communities they serve.

Article contributed by Janice Downey of the National Service Center Marketing Group.

As you think about planning for 2020 and preparing for your annual planning conferences,  use this high-level information about upcoming membership, marketing and program initiatives to help inform and support your local efforts. Marketing has put together a new resource to assist Councils in 2020 Planning called the 2020 Council Marketing Packet.

• Included are highlights from Marketing, Membership and Program all in one place.
• This piece or individual slides can easily be added to any presentation you do to highlight important resources available now and “coming soon”.
• This new powerpoint will be available via Scout Executive packet and Scouting Wire in November and December.

For more information visit this page.

Scouting Wire would like to thank Janice for contributing this article.

Article submitted by David Nelson of the Great Alaska Council

Fall recruitment is one the most exciting times of the year for Scouting. Setting forth to deliver the promises of outdoor adventure, positive family interactions, and strong character development instills a sense of hope and renewal each year. One of the challenges that is surfacing more and more is that there is a misalignment between the number of Packs serving available schools. In some districts, Packs serve whichever school is most convenient, while others employ limits based on geography alone. A strategic conversation with your unit leaders on the appropriate number of schools a Pack should serve can be done in three simple steps. Doing so will uncover new opportunities for growth within existing packs and will help identify new Pack prospects.  

Step One: Develop a Plan to Right-Size Existing Packs

Each month I create time in my schedule to take an in-depth look into the membership of all the Packs that make up my district. I delve into the total membership and then into individual dens. Doing this shows me a few things: the Pack growth potential, the effectiveness of each Pack’s recruitment endeavors, and the Pack’s ability to retain members on an annual basis. Once this analysis is complete, I hold a conversation with unit leaders (people who are committed to the growth of the Pack) and ask what things we can do to ensure that they have full dens for all ages. If they are a small Pack, I recommend that they should limit themselves to serving only two schools. Packs that are significantly larger could consider long-term plans to ensure that every youth has a chance for meaningful recognition. Leaders have told me that their upper threshold is around 80 Scouts and that a conversation about intentionally branching off into a new Pack has helped them to expand into more communities.

Step Two: Find or Develop an Effective Planning Tool

A tool that is easily accessible for me and the membership growth volunteers I work with is essential. I am particularly skilled in cartography; two months before the start of the school year I began map making. I first began with a printout map of the district with every elementary school (public and private) visibly marked. From there I added all my Cub Scout Packs and connected them with their traditional schools. I found great benefit in my map this year—the perspective was valuable. Through this process, I discovered one Pack in my district was serving a school that was 30 miles away from where they meet! I was able to show unit leaders that distance between a school and meeting locations limits a Pack. The visual representation helps me to share the powerful narrative of why parents would prefer good Scouting programs that are more conveniently located in their own neighborhoods.

Step Three: Develop and Strengthen Connections

Connections are crucial to everything we do. Recruiting, Friends of Scouting, and community involvement all depend on our ability to connect with passionate people in our districts. I like to ask unit leaders about a Pack’s connection to schools and about what I can do to help them make the connection stronger.

My volunteers and I have discussed that strong connections include regularly going to PTA meetings, being familiar with the school’s administration, knowing the key parents who lead other events like carnivals, fundraisers, and community service events. If a Pack is serving five schools, it is not likely that they are able to consistently accomplish these things. Packs with school connections provide the best service to families in a community. My role as a Scouting professional is to uncover the great opportunity to develop these connections and facilitate them among my unit leaders.

This approach has helped me to strengthen relationships with my existing units. Direct conversations about our roles in the volunteer/professional partnership serve as the building blocks to successful membership growth. When we develop and implement a plan to ensure that the very best version of Scouting is delivered to every youth in a Pack, we see amazing results.  This begins with ensuring that each Pack understands and subscribes to its capacity and potential.

Scouting Wire would like to thank David for submitting this article

Article submitted by Gene Butler, Growth Coach of the Central Region.

Religious emblems programs have been part of Scouting’s “Duty to God” for many years and support the Declaration of Religious Principle. Although the religious emblems have always been recognized in terms of “program or advancement,” they have been overlooked in terms of “membership” and should be used by local councils to strengthen charter partner relationships, increase membership and manpower, improve retention, and enhance program. Simply put, religious emblems and faith-based relationships reinforce the values found in the Scout Oath and Law. 

The religious emblems programs are created by the various religious groups and faith traditions who partner with the BSA to encourage youth to grow stronger in their faith. The BSA has approved these programs and allows the recognition to be worn on the official uniform, but each religious organization and faith tradition—not the Boy Scouts of America—develops and administers its own curriculum and emblems. 

Religious emblems signify the work one completes learning about their faith tradition and its customs. These programs are graduated programs that teach youth or serve as ministry through curriculum developed by leaders and educators in their own faith. Most traditions have multiple emblems for each Scouting program that align with requirements for Duty to God Adventures, Scout Spirit, and the Venturing TRUST Award. Similar to other advancement within BSA programs, when youth earn the emblem of their faith, they advance more frequently and are registered longer. Likewise, faith-based units traditionally are more sustainable. By providing an instant and visible connection between Scouting and a faith community, the religious emblems programs can help councils reach diverse groups and specific geographic areas or communities not already being served by Scouting.

Congregations benefit from this program, as well. The religious emblems programs can help a congregation embrace Scouting not as an outside group that meets in its building, but as an integral part of their education or ministry with youth and community outreach. Local congregations will not only be providing religious instruction through the religious emblems programs, but they will also be strengthening the spiritual component of the Scouting program. Furthermore, Scouting’s annual recruitment efforts regularly bring young people and families through the doors of the congregation. Past BSA studies have shown that 17% of all Scouts have their first exposure to faith through Scouting programs chartered to a congregation. 

According to the Search Institute, Scouting and Religious Community are two of the 40 Developmental Assets for positive youth development. Both organizations share concern about the same areas of education and ministry: increased participation by families and youth, outreach, and leader development. Understanding that the BSA does not create religious emblems is the key to leveraging religious emblem programs and allows councils to initiate dialogue with local congregations about one of their own resources designed to serve their youth.

Five ways to encourage a faith base organizations to embrace Scouting:

1. Ask a religious leader that doesn’t have a Scouting program to consider working with youth of their religion with the Religious Program of their faith.
2. Consider a “Ten Commandment Hike” as a public relations event to promote Duty to God and A Scout is Reverent.
3. Together We Organize event of the same faith-based organization.
4. Scout Sunday promotion. Working with the Council Religious Relationship Committee to promote and identify Scouting activities in the respective faith-based organization.
5. Volunteer Recognition. An opportunity for the religious leader to acknowledge their scout leaders who are working with youth in their organization.

Scouting Wire would like to thank Gene for submitting this article.