Greg Ball started his presentation by saying that, like most professional Scouters, he was an Eagle at 17. He said that he forgot about scouting for years, then heard about opportunities as a professional scout when the time was right. He began as a scout executive in Davenport IA in 2005. Was a scout exec there, moved back to MN after marrying a woman from the state. Has worked as field director, managing several districts in scouting’s middle management.
Scouting at national level has undergone significant changes. There have been major challenges, including going through bankruptcy. Nationally, Scouting is not out of the woods yet, but has made a lot of progress.
Covid was a big deal for Scouting. Face-to-face activities are important for programs, and ways to overcome pandemic restrictions were limited. Scouting is still working through the loss of a cohort of youth who couldn’t be recruited through the pandemic.
Northern Star, Greg’s and our local council, is one of the largest councils in the country. Several reasons why the council has been insulated from bankruptcy include: good lawyers, innovative approaches including Tiger Cub Scouts for 1st graders and several others. Pushing the envelope for what works. Also have what they call Community Scouts.
Standard scouting structures still exist. But a key innovation has been bringing scouting experience to kids otherwise not exposed At Fort Snelling they have an indoor facility where young people can come to experience things like archery, a climbing wall, STEM activities, etc. Base Camp hosts a week long Discovery Camp. The have a low-price model to allow for maximum participation. Adventure Classroom is a program that they bring to schools. Generally it is a half-day field trip brought to the school, and then connected with the local Cub Scout pack. This does work as a recruiting tool.
The former recruiting model was to go to schools to pitch scouting to elementary school students at the Cub level. Schools have changed their willingness to host Scout programs. The change has led to different ways to reach out to students.
Greg talked about a grant-funded adventure camp at an environmental learning center that is now getting up to speed. It involves 3 day experience.
Explorers are now much more career focused. Common career interests to explore are firefighting, police, EMS, but also in other areas.
River Falls – for its size River Falls has about 1/3 of the youth it should, with fewer Cub Packs and Scout Troops than it should. Scouting has a challenge related to the comfort for parents and youth when they might not have familiarity. The School Forest, our school district’s outdoor learning facility, is well suited for what Scouting wants to do.