Fellow Scouters,

Commissioner Service:  Effective January 1, David Muldowney will become the staff advisor to the council commissioner and commissioner cabinet.  In this capacity, David will work to ensure that our commissioners are building teams that will provide support to units in all areas of operation with a special emphasis on leadership recruitment, training, camp promotions and advancement.

David will also work to ensure that our council operations committees (camping, commissioners, advancement and training) are working in unison.

David's new title will be Director of Support Service.

Reservation Operations:  Lori Reichart will assume the role of Assistant Director of Support Services effective January 1.  In this new role, she will continue to provide support at the council service center while also supporting our operations at Hawk Mountain Scout Reservation including:  store operations, reservations, and purchasing.

District Operations:  Over the course of the next several months, the Key Three members in Appalachian, Frontier and Cacoosing will be working to implement changes that will allow us to better serve our existing units as well as to grow the Scouting programs in underserved areas.

These changes will include:  hiring a new executive with bi-lingual skills, reassigning units in the Fleetwood and Kutztown school districts to the Frontier District, reassigning units in Hamburg and Schuylkill Valley School Districts to the Cacoosing District and developing a mentoring program to units in our urban areas.

As soon as we hire our new executive and work with the three district key threes, we will announce a formal transition plan.  For now, please know that our current staff and district committees are operating as usual.

Financial Operations:  After more than 17 years of dedicated service our Development Director, Bob Besecker will retire effective December 31.

Our new Director of Development starts January 1.  Ray Eschenbach has served Scouting for over 18 years as a District Executive, District Director, Camp Director and Sr. Development Director.  In his most recent assignment, in Syracuse, NY, Ray has been responsible for funding campaigns that totaled over $600,000 annually.

We look forward to an exciting 2014 and beyond as we continue to strengthen our service to units.

One of the keys to a successful Scouting experience for Scouts, as well as Scouters, is trained leadership.

The training philosophy of the Boy Scouts of America is to provide members with fundamental information about the aims and purpose of the movement, specifics about their particular roles in Scouting, and practices that will enhance and improve the Scouting experience for all involved.  One practice that is taught is a focused after-action review process called Start, Stop, and Continue (SSC).

SSC provides a non-threatening and highly effective practice to assess progress of a team and/or an individual.  By looking for new things to try, stopping actions that are not effective, and ending on a "what are we doing well" note, this tool keeps projects (and behavior) on track.  This practice can be done after any event, troop meeting, den meeting, fund-raising event, membership drive, popcorn sale, etc., and has been found to be very beneficial in improving the event to include the development of leaders.  This practice is normally led by the primary leadership of the event; this could be the Senior Patrol Leader for a troop event or the chairperson for a council or district event.

Three questions that are asked by the event leader, along with the additional leadership, for this practice to be effective are?

• What should we start doing that we are not currently doing?
• What do we stop doing that is not working?
• What should we continue doing that is working well and helps us succeed?   

By answering these three questions and then implementing the results of this practice, members will begin to realize opportunities for improving their units, committees, or events ensuring their continued success in this great movement.

Please be sure to use SSC to evaluate a meeting, camp-out, etc.  If your unit or committee does not use this process, using Teaching EDGE (Explain, Demonstrate, Guide, Enable), instruct members in its use and help them continue to use it.  You will find that it will help your unit or committee perform better, focusing on the youth of Boy Scouts of America.

• Weekend #1 - SEPTEMBER 25-27, 2015
• Weekend #2 - OCTOBER 9-11, 2015   

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Standing 125 feet tall and featuring 4,000 square feet of interactive exhibits demonstrating sustainable practices, the tree house is the centerpiece of Scouting's commitment to sustainability. Read article here....