Working With Scout Audiences

Tammy Schwab

Manager, Education &

Outreach

Fairfax County Park Authority

The Scout Community

Niche market with hundreds of local

members

Loyal base who use word of mouth and

formal advertising

Needs are clearly spelled out and predicable

Invest in your community

Scout projects get coverage in the paper

Good will is spread by involved parents

Scouts like to contribute

Scouts are great

resources for helping

with large scale events

Types of Scouts

Girl scouts

Boy scouts

American Heritage Girls

Trail Life USA

Girl Scouts

Daisy K& 1st grade (ages 5-7)

Brownie 2nd and 3rd grade(ages 7-9),

Junior 4th and 5th grade (ages 9-11),

Cadette 6th and 7th grade

Senior 14-16

Ambassador 16-18

Daisy Girl Scouts

(ages 5-6)

Earn petals

Can earn Journeys and Fun Patches

Brownie and Junior Girl Scouts

Earn Badges

– Choose 1 activity from each group of three

choices

Juniors eligible for Bronze award

– Journey needed to earn project awards

Senior and Ambassador

(ages 11-17)

Earn badges

Can earn Silver and Gold awards for

volunteer service projects

Must complete Journey to earn awards

Recent program news

Girls voted to add new outdoor focused

badges

Girls are being asked to vote on the next

badge additions and can choose from STEM

and Outdoor topics among others.

Cub Scouting

( 7- 10 years old) progress from Tiger cub to Bobcat to Wolf to Bear.

Program is all new as of June 2015

Participate in required and elective adventures

Highly detailed meeting plans are provided to leaders for required adventures

Webelos

https://cubscouts.org/library/welcome-to-webelos-cub-scouting/

Fourth- and fifth-grade (10yrs)

Webelos (WE'll BE LOyal Scouts

Now have adventures as well but are allowed a transition year from pin and loop program.

Boy Scouting

A program for boys 11 through 17

May earn Eagle scout service award

Earn merit badges.

– Interpreters must be a certified counselor

– Forms can be downloaded from the web

Venturing

Venturing is for young men and young women ages

14 to 20.

high-adventure activities, sports, and hobbies for

teenagers

May earn Eagle or Gold service award.

American Heritage Girls

20 year national #’s doubled since 2011

faith based so chartered by churches and private schools

Single program book for all badge earning levels Kindergarteners do not earn badges

Badges are the same for all levels but get progressively more involved as girls age

Top award is Stars and Stripes

Our heritage (history)

Family Frontier

Arts

Science and technology

Personal well being

Outdoor skills

Sports pins

American Heritage GirlsBadge categories

Trail life USA

Launched in Sept. 2013

Still forming uniform and program materials

Male led

Already 20,000 scouts and growing

What to offer? Program possibilities:

Badges, Journeys, Adventures

Lock-ins/ Campouts

Recreation opportunities

Summer badge camps

Theme programs fun patches

Scout day skill workshops

Service opportunities

Service Offerings

Drop in Service Opportunities

– Girl scouts/ AHG/ Trail life/Cub scout/ Boy scout Stream and trail clean up

Removing invasive exotic plant species

Big Planned Projects

Eagle/ Gold /Stars and

stripes awards

Build and install

– animal boxes

– Small interpretive

garden

– Benches or Picnic

tables

– Amphitheater

– Wildlife watching

platform

Ways to schedule

Prescheduled programs for individuals/troops

On demand programs for groups

Prescheduled large group events

– (Scout Day)

– Recruiting fair

Direct partnership for summer day camp

How to advertise

Word of mouth

On your website

Their newsletters and website

Present to Leader/Service unit meetings

Flyers electronic and hard copy– Start email list

– Talk to local representatives

– Note: be careful when publishing flyers and other print ads not to use logos or pictures without permission.

Success Stories

Site specific patches/ activity packs

Merit badge programs

Resources for Program Planning

American Heritage Girls Local troop or area

coordinators and badge book

Girl Scouts -Journey Assets and books

Badge Book for each level

Boy Scouts all levels

www.scouting.org

Merit badge pamphlets

Meritbadge.org workbooks

Questions

Off site programs?

Can you take a program to them?

Do you need to be at the resource site?

Great for community outreach and promotion