MEMBERSHIP AND UNIT SUPPORT What you will find in this section: • Growing Your Unit Pg.59 • Registration Event Pg. 60 • Scout Me In Pg.60 • BeAScout.org Pg.61 • Scout Reach Pg.62 • Rechartering Pg.63 • Scouting Terminology Pg.64 • Journey to Excellence Pg.65 • Commissioner Service Pg.65 • Journey to Excellence Service Project Reporting Form Pg.66 • The Eagle Scout Rank Pg.67-69 WWW.GLAACBSA.ORG Page 57 WWW.GLAACBSA.ORG Page 58 GROWING YOUR UNIT Engaging more youth in Scouting enables us to spread Scouting’s values further into our community and makes a deeper impact. Bringing in new youth also brings in new adults with fresh ideas and willingness to serve. All programs should plan a coordinated membership drive annually. New Scouts can join any time during the year, and there are some points in the year that recruiting efforts can be successful (Fall & Spring). The Fall Recruiting Season The beginning of the school year is the busiest time of the Cub Scout recruiting season; it is the time of the year when we recruit the most youth and their families into our program. Families have many choices when deciding programs and activi- ties in which to participate; being prepared to present Cub Scouts as a viable choice requires planning, effective marketing and staging a well-organized registration event. Planning Begin planning your Fall Recruiting season in the spring so that you are ready to engage when school begins in the fall. • Update your Annual Pack Calendar to include school visits, marketing outreach activities, Sign-Up Night and parent orienta- tion. • GLAAC provides a variety of resources (including yard signs, youth and adult applications, sticker) to help with your annual recruitment drive, contact your District Executive. • Attend August Roundtable for your district and gather marketing materials and provide your Sign-Up Night. • If your Pack represents more than one elementary school, plan for recruiting at each elementary school on separate days and holding a sign-up night at each of those elementary schools. • Visit both public and private schools in your area to set up dates so that ALL the youth have an opportunity to be in Scouts. Marketing Traditional marketing includes a visit to the local elementary school, public and private, with an opportunity to hand out fliers with information about the upcoming Sign-Up Night. Visits to elementary schools are a vital part of our recruiting efforts and also a great way for families to see who, in their neighborhood, is involved in Cub Scouts. To know how to ex- actly approach a school to visit, please check out the information provided by National about how to make the relationship between Scouting and the school successful. Some elementary schools allow access to the lunch room to speak with the youth or direct access to classrooms. Other schools allow paper fliers, some only electronic fliers. Work with your individu- al school to determine access. Availability may change each year so be sure to revisit and create an opportunity each year. Lunch time is a wonderful time for access; it does not interrupt the school day or the classroom. Once your Sign-Up Night is set, work with the school and their procedures to set up and distribute recruitment information during lunch time and advertise your night time registration meeting. • Create a display area in the lunch room. Your display may include pinewood derby cars, rain gutter boats, a scrapbook of activi- ties, or a photo presentation on a lap top or tablet. • Have something fun to give the kids at lunch time to take home that includes the sign-up night information and the name and number of the membership chair. Our Council does provide Boys Life mini-magazines, temporary tattoos, pencils, and flyers to hand out. No lunch time access? Work with the school to determine how you can best work with them to get fliers to each fami- ly. Perhaps you can pass out fliers the kids as they leave school for the day while boarding the bus or greeting their parents as they pick up their kids. You may be asked to participate in the “back to school” function when the kids meet their new teachers. Curriculum night is also an opportunity to distribute information about Cub Scouts. Suggestions: • If you have a display, make an announcement during lunch letting the youth know that you are there and to stop by your display area. Give fliers, pencils, etc. to the youth as they stop by. If you do not have a display, make an announcement about Cub Scouts at a general assembly. • Encourage current Cub Scouts to wear their uniforms or Pack T-shirts to school on recruitment day. • Do not limit recruiting to any specific grade level, recruit from K to 4th grade. Even if your pack does not have a den for a grade that a youth may be interested in, have them come to Sign-Up Night. Contact your District Executive to find a pack with a den that they can join. • Invite a local Scouts BSA troop representative to join you and recruit Scouts BSA age youth. • With the school's permission, post signs around the school listing the time, date and location of your Sign-Up Night. • Have a Cub Scout make the morning announcements on the intercom and include a plug for Cub Scouts. • Be creative, work within the culture and personality of your community. If you have been doing the same thing for several years, then try something new! WWW.GLAACBSA.ORG Page 59 Registration Event Now that you have the child interested in Scouting, this is the time to educate the parents and get the family signed up. Ap- proach the night as a Sign-Up Night not a Recruitment event, you have a youth attending your Sign-Up Night, they are inter- ested and ready to go. Your job is to get the family signed up. Go into the night with the approach that no one leaves without filling out an application and paying their initial prorated national/insurance fees. If your Pack recruits from more than one elementary school, hold a Sign-Up Night at each elementary school. This is the place where they feel most comfortable and want to see other families that are familiar. If Sign-Up Night is held at an ele- mentary school that is not familiar to them, there is the potential that they will not see anyone that they know, that their child recognizes. The goal is to have families be comfortable and engaged. The Greater Los Angeles Area Council has created a Sign-Up Night Playbook to help each Pack set up a successful event. The Sign-Up Night should include an activity for the parents to do with their child and an “onboarding” piece for the par- ents. There are several methods for getting families registered and comfortable with expectations. Option One - Two nights (suggested method) • Night One: Sign-Up Only (collect prorated national/membership fees and applications) • Night Two: Parent Only Orientation Option Two - One night • Welcome everyone. • Separate parents and youth. • Complete registration while doing parent orientation with parents. • Youth entertained with Pack activity. Spring Cub Recruiting The second busiest time of the year for recruiting is the spring. Look for Kindergarteners to join, experience Summer Day Camp, and start with an established den in the fall. • A Spring recruiting drive or "Roundup" could follow a similar approach to one conducted in Fall. • This is also a good time to advertise at the 1st to 3rd grades also. Talk about Summer Day Camp – archery, fishing, and FUN – what more could a child ask for? • Recruitment may occur during an in-school visit or a community outreach activity or advertisement. • Sign-Up Night can be handled at a regular Pack meeting. SCOUT ME IN SAYS COUNT ME IN! We’re proud to introduce Scout Me In, the new national marketing/recruitment campaign that invites all kids and families in America to be part of the life-changing experience that is Scouting. The tagline, Scout Me In, celebrates the BSA’s historic decision to serve families and welcome girls and boys into Scouting so they can experience the character-building fun and adventure the program brings to life in communities across the coun- try. It’s more than just a tagline, Scout Me In reinforces that the mission and core values in the Scout Oath and Law are im- portant and relevant for both young men and women. What It Means For kids, Scout Me In is a call to action. It’s an invitation to take part in the fun and adventure that will help kids to build the confidence to find and forge a path to their own best self – today and in the future. For families, Scout Me In is a call for togetherness. Today’s families are busier than ever. They are looking for options that welcome the whole family – mom, dad, sisters, and brothers – to the adventure of Scouting. For the BSA, Scout Me In is a call for celebration! This is historic! By welcoming boys and girls into Cub Scouts – and into our older youth Scouting program sched- uled for February 2019 – even more young people will have the access to the character development and values- based leadership that will prepare them for a lifetime of success. It’s time to celebrate! It’s not just for Cub Scouts – That’s why you’ll see versions of the Scout Me In tagline with the BSA fleur de Lis, the Cub Scout logo, and the Scouts BSA logo.