The Church Begins its Pullout from Scouting
In the short 5-minute drive to work I managed to hear the local breaking news, and had to look up some more information when I got into work.
"LDS Church to no longer participate in Varsity, Venture Scouting" is the headline of the article on KSL.com
http://www.ksl.com/?sid=44204644&nid=1016&title=lds-church-to-no-longer-participate-in-varsity-venture-scouting
The Varsity and Venture ages are 14-15 and 16-17, respectively. According to the article the change, effective January 1, 2018, will "impact approximately 180,000 boys. Which is not a small number, and not an insignificant financial impact on the scout councils.
While those boys who want to continue working towards rank advancement in Scouting will be encouraged to join with other units, I would be surprised if even 20% will have the interest to do so, and those who do will probably only do it because they are wanting to achieve the Eagle rank, and are likely close to getting it.
This will be a huge revenue loss for several councils, especially those in the Utah area.
It will also affect the local councils' camps, and the revenue from them.
For several seasons I worked at a high adventure camp in southern Utah. It was a fantastic experience, but most of those who came were LDS Varsity and Venture units. We did have some LDS girls camps, and a few LDS stake young men camps.
My guess is those high adventure camps will see a huge attendance drop next year. There will be a push to get more young women and stake encampments, but these won't make up for the lack of Varsity and Venture units.
Admittedly, I did not anticipate a partial withdrawal from Scouting. It makes sense, and I think it's a good move.
The article states that the Cub Scout and Boy Scout programs "currently meet" the "development program needs" for the boys ages 8-13.
However, that will likely change in the near future (1-2 years), when Scouting starts allowing girls and there becomes a greater push for all organizations to allow gay leaders.
Without the revenue coming into the national organization, the various legal battles that are being, and will be, fought with regards to transgender youth and gay leaders, it will become easier for the Boy Scouts of America to yield and become less inclined to legally support and defend chartered organizations, especially when those organizations are not being seen as "tolerant" and "inclusive" of all.
And regarding revenue, the BSA will see that adding girls and other gender identities will improve their public image, resulting in more business and corporate support, and provide a new revenue stream with the additional membership options.
Personally I think there are those in the Church leadership who see that the Church's affiliation with Scouting is on its sunset path, and soon the two will part completely.
Some former posts of mine put the Church's withdrawal from Scouting in 2019. As previously mentioned, I did not anticipate a partial withdrawal, but it's interesting that this partial withdrawal is happening at the beginning of 2018. Interesting because the Church could still fully withdraw by 2019, or even 1 January 2020.
"LDS Church to no longer participate in Varsity, Venture Scouting" is the headline of the article on KSL.com
http://www.ksl.com/?sid=44204644&nid=1016&title=lds-church-to-no-longer-participate-in-varsity-venture-scouting
The Varsity and Venture ages are 14-15 and 16-17, respectively. According to the article the change, effective January 1, 2018, will "impact approximately 180,000 boys. Which is not a small number, and not an insignificant financial impact on the scout councils.
While those boys who want to continue working towards rank advancement in Scouting will be encouraged to join with other units, I would be surprised if even 20% will have the interest to do so, and those who do will probably only do it because they are wanting to achieve the Eagle rank, and are likely close to getting it.
This will be a huge revenue loss for several councils, especially those in the Utah area.
It will also affect the local councils' camps, and the revenue from them.
For several seasons I worked at a high adventure camp in southern Utah. It was a fantastic experience, but most of those who came were LDS Varsity and Venture units. We did have some LDS girls camps, and a few LDS stake young men camps.
My guess is those high adventure camps will see a huge attendance drop next year. There will be a push to get more young women and stake encampments, but these won't make up for the lack of Varsity and Venture units.
Admittedly, I did not anticipate a partial withdrawal from Scouting. It makes sense, and I think it's a good move.
The article states that the Cub Scout and Boy Scout programs "currently meet" the "development program needs" for the boys ages 8-13.
However, that will likely change in the near future (1-2 years), when Scouting starts allowing girls and there becomes a greater push for all organizations to allow gay leaders.
Without the revenue coming into the national organization, the various legal battles that are being, and will be, fought with regards to transgender youth and gay leaders, it will become easier for the Boy Scouts of America to yield and become less inclined to legally support and defend chartered organizations, especially when those organizations are not being seen as "tolerant" and "inclusive" of all.
And regarding revenue, the BSA will see that adding girls and other gender identities will improve their public image, resulting in more business and corporate support, and provide a new revenue stream with the additional membership options.
Personally I think there are those in the Church leadership who see that the Church's affiliation with Scouting is on its sunset path, and soon the two will part completely.
Some former posts of mine put the Church's withdrawal from Scouting in 2019. As previously mentioned, I did not anticipate a partial withdrawal, but it's interesting that this partial withdrawal is happening at the beginning of 2018. Interesting because the Church could still fully withdraw by 2019, or even 1 January 2020.
Comments
Post a Comment