You can find a very thorough calendar at  https://www.k2bsa.net/jota-countdown/ starting in January and running through October. The calendar below is also a good starting guide to prepare for Jamboree on the Air.    Month Scout Leader Radio Amateur July Identify one or more radio amateurs and work with them on station arrangements. Consider offering a […]

[…] messages or talk with others via amateur radio communication between the U.S. and that country. You can find the most recent listing of third-party traffic agreements at  http://www.arrl.org/third-party-operating-agreements. Algeria Angola Argentina* Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize* Benin Bhutan Bolivia* Bosnia and Herzegovina* Botswana Brazil* Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria […]

[…] Program Year     Council     District (August – July, uses two Roundtable Attendance reports) Tool Download Sample Download   District Commissioner Visual Analysis     Council     District A web app is available at: http://bit.ly/unit-contact-visual and there is a link in Commissioner Tools to perform this function.   Units Needing Assistance     Region/Area     Council     District (New version, uses Assigned Units, Priority Needs Units, […]

[…] on their activity. Backcountry Horsemen of America P.O. Box 1367 Graham, WA 98338-1367 888-893-5161 International Mountain Bicycling Association P.O. Box 7578 Boulder, CO 80306 888-442-4622 Web site: http://www.imba.com Grabbing Your Group’s Attention (10 minutes) Your group has been excited for weeks about hiking into White Pine Lake. As you arrive at the trailhead to […]

[…] three simple steps: Once a new ECSI Education Center is approved, additional instructors may apply to teach for that Education Center. To learn more about joining ECSI, requesting instructor reciprocity, ECSI Instructor Development courses, or instructor renewal processes, please visit http://boyscouts.ecsinstitute.org. Questions? Please review our (FAQ) page. For more information, please visit the BSA/ECSI website:http://boyscouts.ecsinstitute.org/.

[…] 16-hour weekend BSA Leave No Trace Level 1 Instructor course. For a more in-depth experience, attend the five-day BSA Leave No Trace Level 2 Instructor course. (See https://www.scouting.org/outdoor-programs/outdoor-ethics/training/).  As the outdoor ethics advisor, these courses will give you the tools you will need to be successful with your Scouts. A good understanding of the […]

Commissioners The Commissioner a publication for commissioners and professionals Spring 2021 Chris Beaver NCS Roundtable Support Chair cbbeaver@gmail.com At this point a year ago, many of us were not necessarily familiar with virtual meeting platforms. Now, we use these online spaces frequently to maintain our connections with each other. We commissioners need this […]

Commissioners The Commissioner a publication for commissioners and professionals Spring 2021 Jeff Bostwick Recruiting and Retention Chair  bostwick.jeffrey@gmail.com If you are like me, you might be exhausted with all the new normals we have confronted in the last year. With the upheaval of 2020-2021, you might be craving constancy, not change. So if […]

[…] on this topic earlier in 2021. Many of the items mentioned in this article can be found on the Commissioner Development section of the commissioner website at https://www.scouting.org/commissioners/training/. Now is the time to make the opportunity to become a better commissioner. What specific action are you going to take? Related Articles Related Articles Commissioners […]

Commissioners The Commissioner a publication for commissioners and professionals Spring 2021 Steven Lee Program Support Chair stevel0923@gmail.com Choose an achievement this year you consider memorable, momentous or a milestone. Maybe the unit you serve achieved an improved JTE. Maybe you set a new record of roundtable attendees. Or on a personal level, maybe […]

Commissioners The Commissioner a publication for commissioners and professionals Spring 2021 Craig Martin Exploring Chair  bruin1967@aol.com     It is probably an understatement to say that COVID-19, along with the ongoing BSA restructuring, has turned our Scouting and Exploring world upside down. At the beginning of 2020, before the pandemic, the Exploring program […]

Commissioners The Commissioner a publication for commissioners and professionals Spring 2021 Mike Moegenburg Marketing and Communication Chair mikemoegenburg@yahoo.com We are seeing change in many aspects of our lives. We need to adapt to change when it occurs, and as commissioners, we need to communicate that change to others. To adapt to change, you […]

Commissioners The Commissioner a publication for commissioners and professionals Summer 2021 Chris Beaver Roundtable Chair  cbbeaver@gmail.com As we move into the fall season it will be crucial to engage all unit volunteers through roundtable, meeting each where they are and providing the Unit Service each Scout deserves. In fact, this idea of engagement […]

Commissioners The Commissioner a publication for commissioners and professionals Summer 2021   John Cherry Development Chair  jcherry628@aol.com The Boy Scouts of America has been through some challenging times over the last eighteen months! The combined effects of a worldwide pandemic and the bankruptcy have had an impact on many aspects of Scouting. Commissioners […]

Commissioners The Commissioner a publication for commissioners and professionals Summer 2021   John Cherry Development Chair  jcherry628@aol.com Ninety-two conference participants converged at the Philmont Training Center the week of June 6-12 for the 2021 edition of Commissioner Week. When you add in faculty members and families, there were a total of 163 attendees. […]

Commissioners The Commissioner a publication for commissioners and professionals Summer 2021 Steven Lee Program Support Chair stevel0923@gmail.com Following a year and half of pandemic restrictions and waiting for easements to allow social gathering and traveling, many folks spent this summer enjoying the great outdoors and traveling to see friends and relatives all over […]

Commissioners The Commissioner a publication for commissioners and professionals Summer 2021 Craig Martin Exploring Chair  bruin1967@aol.com Commissioners’ Role in Re-Growing Exploring after Covid-19 Impacts.  Thanks to COVID-19 vaccinations, we are seeing Scouting and Exploring units returning to in-person meetings and activities with proper prevention protocols in place. However, we have a long road […]

Commissioners The Commissioner a publication for commissioners and professionals Summer 2021 Sean Byrne  Resources Chair  sppbks@gmail.com  Last month I had the pleasure of giving the keynote presentation at Atlanta Area Council’s quarterly commissioner meeting. My topic was ‘Growing Scouting,’ and it was a slightly expanded version of a talk I gave during Commissioner’s […]

Commissioners The Commissioner a publication for commissioners and professionals Summer 2021 Linda Baker lalbaker@aol.com Council Support Chair  Build Belonging to Grow Scouting Qs: 1. How can Scouting enhance its appeal to youth and young families? How can Scouting retain youth and their families once they’ve joined? A:  According to sociological researchers, the most […]

Commissioners The Commissioner a publication for commissioners and professionals Fall 2021 Linda Baker lalbaker@aol.com Council Support Chair  We’ve all seen or heard the awful results of subjecting people to toxic cultures—how the effects of hurt and frustration and hostility ripple through the world around those people and spread the damage relentlessly. What if […]

Commissioners The Commissioner a publication for commissioners and professionals Fall 2021 Chris Beaver Roundtable Chair  cbbeaver@gmail.com A group’s culture indicates its customs and its achievements. In unit service, we certainly have customs and, in the end, we aim to achieve the mission of the Boy Scouts of America as well as our vision […]

Commissioners The Commissioner a publication for commissioners and professionals Fall 2021   John Cherry Development Chair  jcherry628@aol.com Be the Heart. Build Relationships. Change Lives These seven words have the capacity to help transform unit service in the Boy Scouts of America. A key element of any successful organization is having a clearly defined […]

Commissioners The Commissioner a publication for commissioners and professionals Fall 2021 Steven Lee Program Support Chair stevel0923@gmail.com Following Commissioner Week at the Philmont Training Center this summer, you may have noticed a new slogan from the National Commissioner Service Team: Be the Heart, Build Relationships, Change Lives. As members of the team considered […]

Commissioners The Commissioner a publication for commissioners and professionals Fall 2021 Craig Martin Exploring Chair  bruin1967@aol.com As a reminder, Exploring is a co-ed program for youth and young adults, ages 10 to 20, which provides opportunities for real-world, hands-on career experiences to help them “Discover Their Future.” The program links young people with […]

Commissioners The Commissioner a publication for commissioners and professionals Fall 2021 Sean Byrne  Resources Chair  sppbks@gmail.com  Hopefully by now, you’ve read each of the service team’s articles on the culture of unit service. If you haven’t, I encourage you to stop reading this one and go read those first. Across many of those […]

Commissioners The Commissioner a publication for commissioners and professionals Winter 2022 Chris Beaver Roundtable Chair  cbbeaver@gmail.com “When I attend roundtable, I leave energized and refreshed.” This is a sentiment I hear Scouters throughout the BSA express frequently. Truly, something as simple as a monthly gathering can prove to be just the pick-me-up Scouting […]

Commissioners The Commissioner a publication for commissioners and professionals Winter 2022   John Cherry Development Chair  jcherry628@aol.com In February 2017, Denzel Washington was speaking at the NAACP Image awards, and this notable quote was part of that speech: “Without commitment, you’ll never start, but importantly, without consistency, you’ll never finish…” Think about how […]

Commissioners The Commissioner a publication for commissioners and professionals Winter 2022 Craig Martin Exploring Chair  bruin1967@aol.com Did you know…that sustaining and growing Exploring youth and young adult membership has a positive impact on Scouting’s overall youth and young adult membership numbers from the National to the individual councils’ perspective? That’s right! Because Exploring […]