Partnerships

I hope everyone is having a safe and fun Summer! Now if we can just get some cooler weather for a while…

My thoughts right now are focused on partnerships. At its July meeting, the Council’s Executive Board passed this resolution:

RESOLVED, that the Council fully embrace a third-party

partnership model to expand program variety, geographic

reach, and flexibility while reducing liability and capital

expenses.

That resolution came directly out of the work on the Outdoor Success Task Force, which spent the past year researching and investigating what sorts of outdoor activities are at the “top of the list” both for our current members and for those young families who

we want to introduce to Scouting and add to our membership. Some of those results were not at all surprising. Camping, hiking, and nature exploration were at the top for both groups, with water activities, “visiting parks”, and biking rounding out the top tier.

I found that two recurring comments from our internal surveys were particularly instructive. First, youth members place great value on social activity time, meaning not a lack of activities but rather elective activity opportunities. Second, youth members told us they don’t like to go to the same places all the time, and that a variety of experiences in new places is important. The combination of those key results gives us important perspectives as we plan outdoor activities at the Pack, Troop, and Crew level, and as we develop programming at the District and Council levels. We can and should continue the nature-based activities “in the woods” that have been a core part of the Scouting experience: camping, hiking, exploring nature, and water-based fun.

But we should expand our planning to build in unstructured time, when Scouts can enjoy each other’s company outside of an advancement framework. And we should work proactively to find new places for those outdoor adventures. That latter point is what underpins the Board’s decision to embrace a model of working with third parties as partners in our outdoor education. Even if the Council had unlimited resources, we could not own enough varied physical spaces to satisfy the “new places” needs of our youth. But the key is that we can deliver great programming regardless of who owns the physical spaces we use!

We are blessed with a tremendous variety of outdoor opportunities within the Council’s footprint, ranging from city parks, to state campgrounds, to national monuments and parks.

Scouting is indeed “three quarters outing”, and expanding our thinking about where to “do” Scouting outdoors will pay dividends. Parents of new Scouts who have never been “in the woods” themselves may be more open to experiencing Scouting with their youth in a site closer to home, or in one that doesn’t seem too much like “roughing it.” Having a variety of locations available as options lets each Unit tailor activities to the wants an abilities of their

members and families.

Following that policy direction from the Board, Council volunteer leadership has started looking for ways to partner with other youthserving groups that have outdoor resources which we don’t have to duplicate, and which we can use without the full burden of

ownership. At the same time that the Council is looking for expanded opportunities through partnerships, every Unit can look for ways to increase the options for their outdoor activities through community and other local partnerships.

We all know the challenges of recruiting and retaining youth and their families. Leveraging our experience and training on how to create program that engages and excites Scouts by partnering with third parties to expand the variety and scope of outdoor environments is one low-cost way to bring in and keep youth in

Scouting! And that translates into growth and success.

— Chris Sandberg, Council Chair