« Back To BSA Innovation Engine

pcowan

pcowan
Member since : Oct-27-2008 (Unsubscribed)
2 Ideas, 99 Comments, 183 Votes

User Activity Stream

Ideas Posted

Rover scouting http://www.scout.org/roverscouts is a world-wide program for mostly older kids/young adults. The USA dropped this program in the early 1950's. We have so much talnet we kick out the door when they turn 21 we do not get access to again until and only if they have kids and they happen to be boys. So for the next 10-20 years, all those Scouts that went to college and had famiies are lost to us for an entire generation.

What better way to supplement our current program and actually utilize our alumni than set them up in the Rover Scout program. Here is a local (US) group that has revivied on a local level the Rover program. http://faculty.roosevelt.edu/king/personal/scouts/rovers/index.htm

We are fooling ourselves if we think all these kids that go through our program will return in later years. Young adults in college are still looking for adventure and service work. I work closely with a local Vietnamese Rover group who helped me start the whole family of scouting in a local Vietnamese church. They also wrote the national syllabus on Vietnamese scouting in the US. The Rover mission IS service.

Look it up. Research it then bring it back!
Moderator Comments
8/26/09

From: Merril Davis, Innovation Coordinator

Initial investigation of this topic will be conducted by the Innovation Team in consultation with appropriate volunteers and staff to identify if a Rover Program fully aligns with the objectives of the Scouting Program and merits further study. Please direct further questions to Merril Davis of the Innovation Team.
13
I have tried to vote on several of the threads and have successfully. I also have had a number of threads reject my vote due to this statement.

"Vote already exists for user. Cannot vote multiple times on the same topic"

I know I have not voted on a particular thread. Just a heads up to the IT gurus. I tried to use the "contact" button but this site is still under construction. Sorry to have to post it here.
Moderator Comments
From: Rani Monson, Innovation Team Leader

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We believe this is now resolved.
Total Rows   421
Displaying 1 to 25
12345678910….1617Next »

Comments Posted

pcowan 6 days ago
I love Karen's idea. We already are able to get sample sizes from Trails End in August for training. There is a cost though I think $75.00 per cooler. Maybe those units willing could prepurchase and have a packet labeling party the weekend before Halloween. Perhaps TE can consider this a type of "Pay it Forward" if every packet has an online id sticker for the youth to get credit for a future sale? The ultimate bag stuffer. Sad we are now marketing to little goblins who thought they were just coming to our doors for a tootsie roll.

I still have join scouting in multi-colored shoe polish all over the back window of my truck with flags tied to the bed. Quite the sight as I drive down the freeway...
pcowan 6 days ago
Supplemental trainings are just that; supplemental. They are voluntary to take. Once we go to the mandatory training in 2012 most all of these issues of "old crusties" will go away. Either they will not recharter in their position as leader or their unit will not recharter or they will get trained. We are already forcing them to comply by 2012. Are we now going to force them to take supplemental trainings too?

Our current tracking of trainings in horrendous at best. How do you suggest we also track the occassional weekend supplemental trainings?
pcowan 11 days ago
forgive my lack of knowledge of this system, but how do we "see" the fliers just posted?
pcowan 16 days ago
I also encourage my vols to put bag stuffers in "with" their candy. I would thnk attaching our brand TO a candy would be an endorsement of the maker of the candy. Since we don't do this with other products; should this be done with candy? A bag stuffer fixes the hurdle and may not get thrown in the trash as fast as the wrapper does.
pcowan 23 days ago
Don't we all already keep spreadsheets with this information?
pcowan 1 month ago
Looks like we will not get our desire unless we can change some politicians minds. It should not be this hard to recognize the BSA. WHY would the federal governement who charters us, not recognize this milestone? Or is it the members of the Boy Scouts are a threat to this administration?

http://www.scouts-l.org/sl_kb.cgi?action=view_message&message_id=59468&view_option=plain_body&message_details=/

USPS CURRENTLY PLANS TO IGNORE SCOUTING ANNIVERSARY

FIRST visit & join our FACEBOOK Page:
http://apps.facebook.com/causes/335515/26816363?m=fb5a6ed7

According to the August 24th issue of Linn's Stamp News, the US Postal
Service currently plans to ignore the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of
America, the nation's largest and most successful youth organization with
over 100 million Americans having been members. Nearly ninety other
countries have honored the 100th anniversary of Scouting with postage
stamps, but the Postal Service of the country with one of the largest
Scouting organizations thinks it's not that important!

According to Linn's, the preliminary 2010 USPS Commemorative Stamp Program
was announced August 6th by David Failor, USPS Executive Director of Stamp
Services during the American Philatelic Association Stamp Show in
Pittsburg. Linn's reports:

"In answer to a question raised during the meeting, Failor acknowledged that
a stamp on the subject of Scouting is still under consideration for 2010,
the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America.

Responding to a question about whether there will be a stamp for the Boy
Scouts in 2010, Failor replied, "At this point no, but I wouldn't totally
close the door on it"

If you think that Scouting should be recognized with a USPS postage stamp,
make your feelings known! Write a personal letter to Mr. Failor. Also, ask
your Senators, Representatives and other elected officials to support the
100th anniversary of Scouting Stamp! Urge them to write to the Postmaster
General requesting that the 100th anniversary of Scouting First Class
Postage Stamp be issued.

Your help is greatly needed. Time is of the essence! Spread the word to
other Scouts, Scouters and concerned citizens. Please write a letter on
your letterhead to:

Mr. David E. Failor
USPS Executive Director Stamp Services
1735 N Lynn St Suite 5018
Arlington VA 22209

and to

Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee
c/o Stamp Development
U.S. Postal Service
1735 North Lynn St., Suite 5013
Arlington VA 22209-6432

and to

Postmaster General John E. (Jack) Potter
United States Postal Service
475 L'Enfant Plaza SW
Washington DC 20260

Copy your US Representative and Senator on the letter and send them a copy
with a hand written note asking for their help.

Their Addresses are:

Address for Representatives:
(Your Representative), United States House of Representatives, Washington,
DC 20515.

Address for Senators:
(Your Senator), United States Senate, Washington, DC 20510.

You may also additionally email your legislators:

http://www.house.gov/writerep/

http://www.emailyoursenator.com/senators.html

or call them toll-free at the U.S. Capitol Switchboard: 800-962-3524.

Be a part of this ground swell grass roots effort!

This is a great time and a perfect reason for scouts to earn their
Citizenship in the Nation Merit Badge by writing to their Congressional
delegation.


YIS,


Ed Henderson
Board Member - U.S. Scouting Service Project
BigEd@usscouts.org
580-382-1422


pcowan 1 month ago
I agree with Charles.
pcowan 1 month ago
Most districts have a uniform closet for "experienced" uniforms. If districts promoted this it would not put an additional strain on our Shops for more space they don't have. It would also foster relations between "the district" and new parents who one day we will want to be district level vols.
pcowan 1 month ago
In our office we get charged for every sheet of paper printed to our unit service account. This extra sheet is also a charge with no value. Yes, please eliminate the extra sheet.
pcowan 1 month ago
Before we ambrace an entity of such public scrutiny, we better make sure Wall Street is having a "good" day that day or else we brand ourselves with a negative flavor.

Surely we can find better ways to get exposure and money...
pcowan 1 month ago
It will also increase out training numbers since most Den leaders just move up the next year. If they feel they don't need training since they got trained last year and this years program is not much different, what's the point in going back?

Lets do a "one time you're done" training and improve our numbers dramatically.
pcowan 1 month ago
All the districts I have worked in have an "experienced uniform" uniform closet. This is easy enough for a volunteer to manage and request donations from RT. Also an easy first time job for a new volunteer to "cut their teeth" on.
pcowan 2 months ago
I am with kswanson,

See my thread in the Retention section on Rover Scouting. We need to engage our alumni; not send them away for a generation and HOPE they return with their children.
pcowan 3 months ago
It kind of already is. Look at the requirements for Tenderfoot, Second and First Class. The requirements for Cooking MB are the same requirements for these 3 advancements. So if a youth has gotten to Star, he has earned the cooking MB by default basically.
pcowan 4 months ago
Does not your DE track this information himself? I don't know anyone who does not.
pcowan 4 months ago
I get charged for texted messages. I am sure others do not want to pay for perceived "spam" from BSA.
pcowan 5 months ago
you're kidding right?
pcowan 5 months ago
Here is another world-Rover web-site for your review on rover scouting updated May 2009. Please read the (read more) link and look at the PDF document. Start on page 7. Thank you

http://www.scout.org/roverscouts
pcowan 6 months ago
I agree with Mr. Molepske. There are plenty of resources out there if our "mentors" are really looking after us to help identify challenges in our behavious whether at work or home.

BSA does have an excellent mental health plan. Something to consider is the number of young just out of college first career staff we hire. This job coupled with new marriages and possibly babies and a post-college expectation can lead to challenges at work and at home.

I doubt there is a significant differnece between the BSA and corporate America in the number of cases of divorce and needs for mental health professional help. We should take advantage of the tolls we currently have in place, but we have to be reminded sometimes those tools are there.
pcowan 6 months ago
I agree with Amanda,
I vote no.
pcowan 6 months ago
Of course every gift is appreciated. I have never seen a solicitation that did not have a suggested giving level attached to "some name". United Ways do it, Chambers of Commerce, Rotary and most every other entity we deal with.
pcowan 6 months ago
I don't see this as being a positive thing for the councils or districts that are being "invaded by outsiders" to fix their problems. Morale will already be low in that council, but this will not help matters.
pcowan 6 months ago
What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Bi-lingual
What do you call someone who speaks three languages? Tri-lingual
What do you call someone who speaks one language? American

This is better left to the interpreter strip. NOT an Eagle required badge. You will see your numbers plumet.
pcowan 6 months ago
Last time I wore this outfit was to PDL a decade ago. I dress the way my volunteers dress. If they wear overalls, so do I. If they wear designer slacks, so do I. I am not there to stand out. I am there to make them feel comfortable around me.
pcowan 6 months ago
Yeah. I thought this was a District Executive job description. Now if you found a way to get a foundation to pay salary under the heading of a pilot project, that is something to look into. Though I think it falls under fraud.
pcowan 6 months ago
This already exists. See macscouter.com
pcowan 6 months ago
WHen I got this job, my parents who were leaders some 20-25 years ago, thought I might like to have all their awards they earned. Most were paper certificates they kept for a quarter century.

eco-friendly awards? that are as cheap as paper? please describe.
pcowan 6 months ago
Why do we "need" wifi? We already have computers to work from. Volunteers coming in to work can do so with these with supervision. They are supervised anyway when they come in. Otherwise, what do they need them for at our offices? DO we really have that many people with no place else to go to do scout type work? I am in a 200 council and I can't say we have 1 person a month if that often needing to "hook in" to the net here.
pcowan 6 months ago
I am not trying to answer the question, but I think the intent of the rule is even though you are "dad", there needs to be another female there to help with female problems, female issues, female questions, female challenges. Something that even "dad" may not be able to assist with. Do you typically carry an extra bag of "sanitary napkins" with you?

I think it is a good idea to keep the rule.
pcowan 6 months ago
Why not reinstate Rover Scouting? Other countries still have this very useful tool.
pcowan 6 months ago
Before we get into the higher elements, lets make sure our NEW leaders know what it means to BE trained. The e-learning center does not direct people to "the next" training needed to "BE" trained. It just gives you a card. If you are not aware you need 3 seprate trainings, you will think you are done when you complete the first one.

We need more direction on the e-learning center directing people to "complete" their training and not stop at YPT.
pcowan 6 months ago
Let's totally alienate our ethnic populations by turning their kids into mini-soldiers. Come on, the military look now already shies them away from joining us. Get rid of the cargo pants.
pcowan 6 months ago
This is not meant to be a negative question, but Who's ethics will be taught? The scout Oath and Law are fine and all, but if the BSA has no position on religion, how can we on personal family ethics? We have very liberal and very conservatice members.

I can only see this project being VERY subjective at best.
pcowan 7 months ago
How do we submit new ideas to the Program Content committee?
pcowan 8 months ago
Up until the early 1950's BSA utilized what the rest of the world still has. Rover Scouts. We need to bring them back. I work closely with local Vietnamese Rovers. They ahve helped me start the full family of scouting in our local Vietnamese churchs. They are also responsible for writing the National BSA Vietnamese catalogues.

BRING BACK THE ROVER SCOUTS
pcowan 8 months ago
I agree with Mr. Howard Gibbon. We DO need to "look the part". We don't necessarily need the medallion, but what is wrong with a blue coat, white shirt and gray slacks? I agree we could come up with a better looking silk tie, but we do need to Look distinctly apart from the local rotarians at their luncheons. Besides, you can still mix and match the "official" dress with other pieces the rest of the week.
pcowan 8 months ago
Mr. Howard-Gibbon,

"By the book" this is how the chartering organization is supposed to handle their scouting units. I don't have a single unit in my district that took on the responsibility. IN fact the only way I could partner with our PTOs was if there was never any financial oversight or mingling of monies. When I have approached our churches with challenges due to money and asked them for help, they also were comletely hands off.

If I pressed the issue with any of them, we would be asked to find a new home. In this day and age, BSA needs to take care of itself and not rely so much on our "partners" helping us financially.
pcowan 8 months ago
It's not the kids we have trouble with. It is the adults. Within every city, there is a hub to each ethnicity. We can sell the kids. They are easy. If mom and dad don't understand BSA, we lose the kids. Our attraction needs to be directed at THEIR comfort level. THEY need to be able to understand easily what we are doing to their kids. In Houston, there is no longer an incentive to learn english as the hispanic population is now the majority and can live completely isolated from english their entire lives with absolutely no problem.

They don't need english to live here. If we can't convince them in spanish (or russian, serbian, or dutch...) they also will have no use for the BSA.
pcowan 8 months ago
Don't stop here. Make one form for the completion year and committment year. I have trouble in the extreme getting units to understand they have to complete two separate forms. As Scoutnet spits out the committments in February for us, have it already have the completion filled out and add the next years committment on the same form. How many leaders have to go searching for thier October completion form 4 months later and can't find it and just give up trying.
pcowan 8 months ago
These suggestions are good, but the fact is we are using the faith awards of particular religous bodies. The religious awards program does not belong to the BSA. We are allowed to use it as are the other couple of youth organizations.

As you know each faith develops their own award. Though we do have most of the faiths covered, I have walked into many churches in my time and when told none of these pertain to us, I end up just saying "well, pick one that is closest." This is not the right and proper way to teach the faith of the boy to him.

Requiring a boy to earn religious understanding within and without rank advancement is ok as long as EVERY faith is represented on the chart. Currently, we can't do that.
pcowan 8 months ago
I have heard of one council that made "health" a critical achievement. Don't recall how it was wroded or how it was measured though.
pcowan 8 months ago
What do you do with the 16 year old or 4th grader that has no way of meeting this requirement before they age out? Better to do proper promotions with unit leadership through good relationships.
pcowan 8 months ago
Though oversight is good, the Unit Commissioners need to take the responsibility to data enter their own numbers. If they force it up the chain of command, eventually that puts the professional doing it for them and defeats the purpose of the system.
pcowan 8 months ago
We are not the GSUSA. Our program works where theirs faulters at every new innovation. We know what works, we need to stick to it. Lone Scouting is a great program in and of itself and is what BSA was "mostly" founded upon. But in today's world there are very few instances where a youth needs to actually make use of this program since we as professionals have done our jobs and started units in every conceivable place. right?
pcowan 8 months ago
Sorry, Mr. Gill. I don't see the difference from what you suggest and what we are now doing. We take orders from the top and the DE's implement them in their districts.

DE's out of PDL-1 (mostly fresh out of college) do not have what it takes to run a district let alone a council even with good "guidance". I think your 20+ years experience is more than what some PDL-1ers have in life.
pcowan 8 months ago
I think $5 may be high for people who only do a few merit badges a year. Perhaps the same fee as a Tiger Partner and still have them go through the entire application process might be better. And this only if they are not currently registered. We don't want to charge anyone additional.
pcowan 9 months ago
I half agree with Mr. Russ. Skateboarding alone is not worthy of its own Merit Badge, but possibly combined with other activities,it might be a prt of the whole. However, some activities suggested are not able to be done in some parts of the country. You won't find any snow boarding in south Texas.
pcowan 9 months ago
When is the last time you did a boy talk? Kids WANT to get out doors and be active. the reason we have sedintary kids today is parents have allowed the games/TV to do the babysitting rather than them being active parents in their child's upbringing.

This is a very bad idea IMO
pcowan 9 months ago
This is an incredibly important thing to do in internet marketing. People don't know how to spell or they type too quickly. If you don't believe me, go to E-bay and deliberatly type in misspellings and you will see what I mean. Even if it means purchasing these domain names, we can always redirect the person typing them to our main site and they will not be ther wiser.
pcowan 9 months ago
If a boy cannot keep track of his remaining time, then what has he learned in the program? We teach boys to grow up by allowing them to fail. If we stop now, how will this help him later on?
pcowan 9 months ago
There is noting wrong with an adult going to the Scout Shop, buying a merit badge book, doing all the requirements to "earn" the badge and say, "I did it." That's all they want anyway is to relive their youth. They should have done that the first time around.
pcowan 9 months ago
People know what football is, they know what baseball is. No one understands what Scouting is. To think that a person who has no or little knowledge of BSA to pay now and participate later is seriously flawed.

I can't get people to pay now and participate now. Giving stuff away is great in and of itself, but there again, I give away t-shirts and pinewood derby cars all the time and families don't come back. Freebies to not equate to ownership of the program.

It might get them signed up that night, but it won't mean they will return next week. I am definitely not going to jeapordize my Day Camp budget buying "stuff" for kids that signed up to participate 4-6 months earlier when I have no idea if they will show up or not.

How many times has anyone bought something months before only to end up losing it when the time came to use it? Why would we take people's money and then not give them the program we promised? This happens every rally season. Time to "think about it" is time for buyers remorse. Again, I am talking about those that do not undersand BSA. This is 99% of my Hispanic community.

I fundamentlaly have a proplem taking people's money for any length of time and them not participating. Whether their change of mind/heart or lack of District support to their unit.
pcowan 9 months ago
What's the difference between a 20 year old female youth and a 21 year old female adult?

One can join the OA and the other cannot.
pcowan 10 months ago
My question is how do they get the information to post online? Don't they already have to have this to data enter it???

If units will turn in their apps WHEN they get them and NOT hold them until recharter time, the council can data enter them for them and then they don't have to worry about double the work. Besides, my boss wants those kids in house immediately. Doesn't yours?
pcowan 10 months ago
I would too
pcowan 10 months ago
The rest of the corporate world also allows electronic signatures. Let's go all the way and get in line with corporate america. Why do we have to have "fresh ink" on every application? if the IRS is ok with it, why not us?
pcowan 10 months ago
I agree with Mbarbern.

Soccer and scouting does not work in my council. I see no diference between football and futbol in diverting kids AWAY from scouting. Yes, we use sports in our advancement, but to promise to promote their agenda for a free $3,000,000 timeslot will have us scrambling (pun intended) to prove to them we are living up to our end of the bargain. If we don't meet their expectations, will we then owe them the Free $3,000,000 timeslot post game?

bad swap in my opinion
pcowan 10 months ago
There is. Its called review or submit
pcowan 10 months ago
Many units are already doing this activity just not under the auspices of the BSA. I admit I don't know much about this activity, but if the warning label on my lazer pointer says don't point it into someone's eye, then what is the difference between lazer tag? Is the danger still not there?
pcowan 10 months ago
As hunting is only for Ventures, this activity should also only be for this age group.
pcowan 10 months ago
I agree. If the choice to allow kids to point weapons is being considered, it needs to be one that does NOT use projectiles. Even water guns can put an eye out to a youth not prepared for the mega backpack cannon blasters they have these days.
pcowan 10 months ago
As much as I know kids enjoy dangerous activities "for the thrill", consider the difficulty of getting to a youth who is far from shore who has a mishap. She/he could too easily drown even with a PFD if knocked unconscious if help cannot get to him or her quickly enough.
pcowan 11 months ago
I'm not one to give up my hard earned money or any money for that matter, but would the staff be willing to forego the last expense check of the year to help meet budget. If we are all looking to meet budget, and don't want to cut anyone, why not ask for voluntary (TEMPORARY) pay reduction or loss of an expense check here or there.

I am not talking drastic measures per person, but we already give to FOS, why not give to the bottom line also in other ways?
pcowan 11 months ago
I've never heard of underarmmor, but Nike used Michael Jordan. What major personality can we pay to wear our stuff in an outdoor setting? and how much would it cost?
pcowan 11 months ago
I feel just the opposite about the uniform especially the pants. They have too much velcro. Try opening a pocket with 2 fingers (holding someting with the same hand). You can't put your hand let alone two hands in your pockets at the same time without cutting your hip in half with the steel-like ring across the crotch.

Why are we trying to scare away our hispanic population by making us look the Immigration Service. I cannot recruit hispanics with this new look. I have been told this by them. We scare them. They don't trust us simply by how we look. Lose the side pockets. (too militaristic)!
pcowan 11 months ago
The new employee document already exists. It is a national publication of which I can't put my finger on right now. The title is something called New Employee Orientation and covers every aspect of the job in a hands on way for the first 2-3 months before they go to PDL 1
pcowan 11 months ago
We can all read the stories on the newcasts. Is it possible to just have "positive PR' on our own site? I don't read this segment anymore because it is usually talking about all the offenders or what the ACLU is doing to us again. If I want to get depressed or angry, I can go find a TV somewhere.
pcowan 11 months ago
Ummm, has anyone thought for a moment if the GSUSA were to go after our boys into a co-ed program what that would do to OUR membership? The GSUSA already does not hold to a Declaration of Religious Principal or uphold the BSA Oath or Law (no gays) so I can see our membership drastically reduced if we tried all out competition for their girls. The liberals would be all over them to try to squash us simply by taking our target market; boys.
pcowan 11 months ago
I think we have alot of this going on right now. There just doesn't seem to be a good way of sorting through all the "silly" ideas or collecting "less than silly" ones into a more easily readable directory. If we restrict people to share only on the topic of this week, we may miss the million dollar idea that was the topic of the week last week.

Yes, I know all these posts are lumped into groupings at the top of the page, but I think this can be more fine tuned under any given category.

I don't mean to say there are too many less than silly ideas. We have had some really good ones. But yes, there have been some really silly ideas also.
pcowan 11 months ago
Though the "real" world has authorized digital signatures, BSA has not. We still need "fresh ink" on applications to verify the application is current and authentic so as to manitain 100% transparency to outsiders looking in; such as foundations that want to know if we have real kids or not.

We cannot do this via fax or e-mailable forms.
pcowan 11 months ago
We do this in the ISDs that we have no school access. It is somewhat helpful, but there is nothing better than a Boy Talk in front of a group of kids.

Think about how often you get automated calls and hang up on them as soon as you hear a computer. This is not as effective as it may seem.
pcowan 0 years ago
No matter how much we pray, we will never have a mountain or white water in SE Texas. Kids don't typically decide where they go to summer camp anyway. Dads do who have a weeks' worth of vacatio time saved up and they don't want to go locally. They want to HAVE a vacationin a Different environment. We have about a 3 year swing on attendance. 2 years out of council and 1 year in council.

I think our target market is NOT the troops themselves, but the 40%-60% of the boys who cannot/do not go with the troop to summer camp due to summer school, work or parent custody issues. We need to work with these families individually and get individual kids to our speciality camps/ Super Troop programs. Lets target the kids that are not going to camp for some reason and get them to council camps. Possibly paid for through a donor if necessary.
pcowan 0 years ago
But using Facebook medium, BSA looses control of content and usage.
pcowan 0 years ago
This is bad for the same reasons we don't allow girls in Cub Scouts. GSUSA has its program, BSA has its. Venturing is sufficient for the age group along with its awards program. Not that many kids use it.

Dear innovideas: Can you share your name with us like everyone else does on the forum? Or is this a mod testing the waters on various ideas? I notice you had multiple posts well down the list, but have not shared your opinions on anyone elses.
pcowan 0 years ago
There are some industries where this might be feasable. BSA is not one of them. Leadership MUST have a working knowledge of the intricacies of this business. I am sure you have seen old Eagle Scouts now with sons want to join and do it "the old way". It does not work that way.
pcowan 1 year ago
I think this has merit, but BSA and GSUSA Nationally need to hammer this out together. My experiences with the local GS council has not been very productive. We are seen as competitors and they have little to do with us. Though we can open our camps up to them, we have been locked out of theirs.

I have many joint trained leaders and they all say the GSUSA training is a joke compared to BSA training. I don't see there is too much they will have to offer. I see them benefiting more from our trainings.
pcowan 1 year ago
The first thing I noticed about the new shirt was I now have what women have. How embarassing. Get rid of the puffy front pockets!!!Nobody uses them anyway.

Put ONE piece of velcro on the pockets. (shirts and pants) I can only use one hand to open a pocket at a time and if both sides have velcro one side closes as I am trying to open the other. Very frustrating.

Can we talk about pants on this thread as well?

I hate my new pants. It is fine to have the little elastic expandable for my gut, but if I try to put my hand in my pocket and God forbid both at the same time, it feels like a steel wire cutting across my hips and crotch. What's that all about?

I also don't like the switchbacks. They are not as professional looking as the straight legs. We need the choice. I felt more comfortable walking into a bank president in uniform with the straight legs. Now I feel like I am coming from a campout to see him. Not professional looking at all.

Also, if I can continue...since we have such a growing hispanic culture who is already afraid of or at least don't trust the military from their home country, who in the world thought to make our pants look like the military? I had a colleague recently in west Texas who while at a diner saw several INS agents come in. The ONLY difference between what he was wearing and the INS was they also had guns. Get rid of the baggy side pockets.

I need to be able to put my hispanic families at ease and not on guard because of my clothes. Right now, I don't wear my uniform for fear of running them all off. The idea of a new uniform, great. It still is not in a format kids are not embarassed to wear or is nonintimidating to our growing client base.
pcowan 1 year ago
Good Lord, It must be a night mare to monitor this site with its numerous threads and replies. To have to moderate a volunteer site...I don't want the job. Not to mention, we are for the most part civil to each other here. Volunteers can be much more, um...passionate.
pcowan 1 year ago
I agree with mgriffin
pcowan 1 year ago
hummm,

of the 109 million users and 132 million unique visitors (seems alot of overlap there) how many of these are from USA and not the UK, Africa, China and other countries totalling our 5.6 billion world population. I don't think this number means much.

Just because USA is more technologically advanced and over whelmed with media coverage does not equate to OUR members being participants of these sites. yes, I know many probably are. But those that are members of these sites are probably not nor of the age to join or have children who will join. How many elementary age boys are really looking at these sites anyway?

I would be curious for someone to track the profiles of users and visitors to these sites. We might find they are NOT our target audience.

Social networking while it may have its place in the media arena does not stand up to boy on boy recruiting or an effective boy talk at a church or school. I fear some are looking for an easy way out of "reaching out and TOUCHING" someone and we as an organization will spend to much time and resources better utilized in the field.

Now please excuse me as I go to my next boy talk. That's called active recruitment; not passive recruitment.
pcowan 1 year ago
I can almost get on board with Marc's idea, but we are in the business of getting kids out doors. Not enabling them to stay behind the screen as I am curently doing.

The only thing worse than kids playing computer games until their bodies atrophy to mush is adults playing games or texting during staff meetings. I hope I hit a nerve there. Talk about disrespectful.
pcowan 1 year ago
We don't have a uniform police in BSA. Who cares if an adult wears their Eagle regallia to an Eagle ceremony? It fosters the brotherhood of Eagles. No one not even youth wear the silly thing on a daily basis anyway. It is for special events.

If people ask what my knot means, I tell them. If I am recruitng youth or adults, I tell whether they ask or not. I'm proud of it. I earned it, I should be. I personally do not wear my ribbon. I don't think less of men that do either.
pcowan 1 year ago
We have contracted "interns" from high schools and colleges to help us data enter e-mail addresses for our online newsletter. This is free service hour labor. The more people we have access to electronically the more people we can touch in a moments notice for fundraising or for catastrophies such as hurricane Ike.

We don't spam of course, but we if we can capture e-mails form any conceivable place like Scout Fair, adult apps, or event rosters, we can use that information to continually get the message, our message, out to people in a timely manner.

You should look into doing this.
pcowan 1 year ago
I guess Baby Sitters of America won't work.

If we do consider something like this, I don't, we need to keep the BSA acronym and change the verbage it comes from. We have too much literature out there to conceive of destroying it all and starting over.

Big Scouts of America
Bodacious Scouts of America
Brotherly Scouts of America
Beloved Scouts of America


No, I think Boy Scouts of America still suits our customer base. Our life blood is Cub Scouts. They have no problem being called boys.
pcowan 1 year ago
Bin items are also restricted as to how many a council may have per order and we are restricted from what I understand as to how many times a month we can order. I am in a very large council, if I am to order something for each person just to have 1 copy, I am restricted to 10 per order. This will take me 6 orders just to have 1 per person. How are we to go to new unit sales call for example when it takes 3 prospects to make one sale and only have 1 sample. I happen to have to organize 5-10 units per year. But I only have 1 sample to give to the prospect IH. I need 30 pieces times the number of professionals in my office. I need access to more than 10 at a time.

BIN items need to be custom orderable to the size of the council ordering. An 800 council needs much less than a 200 council. My 200 council is crippled due to lack of product available to us.
pcowan 1 year ago
pmaskovi: I would say to this that this is a poor use of resources. How many of us got that little piece of paper with a degree and we are actually in the field we took the degree in? How many very successful business owners across the country did not even go to college?

Yes, we do have a tremendous nonprofessional work force behind the scenes, and if they want to abuse their lives like the rest of us have agreed to, then I say let them. Sitting in a classroom for 4 -6 years does not make a person any more qualified for this job than someone who has worked for us for 10-15+ years and has very knowledgeable indepth experience with BSA.

From what I gather from the National convention, people with life skills are going to be looked at very hard and jump the traditional ranks past most all of us. I have a person currently working for me, who has enough life skills and has brought enough to the table already to be a development director or higher. If anything, our current model is holding him back from taking our council to the next level.

Don't be shortsided.
pcowan 1 year ago
I don't want this to come out wrong, but if we are using the GTFA site to tell our benefactors what BSA is "doing" out there, not having safeguards in place to restrict who enters what opens the door for people to make up service hours thereby falsifying to our donors what our kids are doing.

I agree it could be easier process, but we still have to stay transparent and taking away a safe guard opens the door for potential abuse.
pcowan 1 year ago
You can save the documnet as a PDF and print it from there. You don't get the blank sheet at the end
pcowan 1 year ago
We already have a Silver Beaver Award
pcowan 1 year ago
How bout we stick to doing things outdoors and stop enabling kids to be stuck indoors?
pcowan 1 year ago
How bout we stick to doing things outdoors and stop enabling kids to be stuck indoors?
pcowan 1 year ago
We are professional dress every day except Friday we wear business casual. Keep in mind we are corporate America. Yes, we have to dress the part of the area of the country we are in; you don't wear a tie to visit the local FFA, but for the most part, we do deal with executives that expect us to be just as professional as they are. If BSA's new trend is to be more like corporate America in it's practises, WE at the bottom of the ladder need to be the ones setting the pace to set the tone of our future. Dressing down like college kids on vacation is not the answer. Look the part; feel the part; BE the part.

pcowan 1 year ago
I say we pick February 29th as the date. That way we only have to do this once every 4 years. If this sounds sarcastic, it is because I am. Come on people. Yes, we have been doing this for a long time because it is proven to work. If we have done our "whole" job during the year, we won't have to worry about the last 2 weeks of the year playing catch up. We are BSA Incorporated. We are a business. Other businesses do NOT take off after Christmas. Especially not the restaurant industry. We can't have our cake and eat it too. We have all kinds of time during the year to skip out for an early afternoon to take care of Family business.

If we have done our jobs, we will have the "extra" time to not show up at the office and spend the QUALITY time with family. We are not in school anymore. We don't have 2-3 weeks vacation leave like college. Welcome to corporate America. I am not trying to be Scrooge here. If we take care of our family during the year, they will understand what we are doing at the end of the year.
pcowan 1 year ago
Can there also be a way to add insurance fees to the online recharter? It seems different councils charge different amounts for insurance and leave this figure off the totals. Yes, there is a worksheet to figure this out, but rarely are the numbers transfered over to the totals column on the front page.
pcowan 1 year ago
If you are in the South, unless directly told to stop, you will never get passed the endearments. It's part of the culture. Just like saying ma'am and ya'll.

Do ya'll want your chittlin's and cornbread with blackeyed peas? Yes, ma'am. Aw, you little dear, you didn't eat your peach cobbler. Are you not feeling well? Here sweetie, go lay down.

We are all personable down here. It's a well learned and respected trait.
pcowan 1 year ago
The same thing happened when Sam Walton died. His sons outsourced. Now I buy my American flags made in Korea!
pcowan 1 year ago
I agree,

There is also a fear out here even with this that management at whatever level could use a persons ID to punish dissenters rather than working with them to resolve conflicts.

I am not trying to be paranoid here, but politics abounds even in BSA. I don't see people truly giving their open honest opinion when there is a way of tracking them. This goes for the online questionaires we occassionally get. The initial 3 questions tell anyone who you are without ever using a name or number.

1) What region are you in
2) how long have you been in
3) how many people do you supervise

These 3 questions alone can narrow the field to a small few and then a little digging can show who is who. It's all about anonymity.
pcowan 1 year ago
What's Facebook? What's Myspace?

I've never been to these sites and I dare say 95% of our parents haven't either. Yes, we have to be in touch with the modern age and where kids hang out, but just as in promoting Roundtable, if we can't get past the gate keepers whether it is the unit leader or the parent, we'll never get our message to those that need it.

Scouting is about getting out from behind the electronics. Not burynig our kids in there deeper. We already know what works and entices them. We need to maximize what does work and not waste our time on arenas that take us away from delivering the program to our kids.

PS: Hi Tony, great to see you are here.
pcowan 1 year ago
Cubs are not allowed to belong to more than one Pack at a time. Boy Scouts and higher program areas are allowed to participate in other program areas as multiples but not as double primary youth. If a Boy Scout wants to participate in two troops or five, he must make one of them his home troop and advancement must go through that Troop. He can earn anything he wants in the other program areas such as Varsity or Venturing. Those awards go through their respective programs.

There is no need for multiple registration fees as ANY youth can only primary in one unit at a time. BSA must have a paper trail on every registered member whether they are new, transfers or multiples. We will never be able to get away from this. We have too many eyes watching us to try to not be transparent.