What is Unit Health?
Since we have limited Commissioner resources, we need to focus available resources on units with greatest needs. Bay Lakes Council in Wisconsin presented their Unit Health Index approach at PTC on June 2022, and we are basing our pilot on the Bay Lakes Council Document. BSA National is considering developing the Health Index Criteria in 2024 based on BSA 01/25/2023 Draft index criteria, MCC has decided to pilot it in 2023. By using the approach now, MCC can benefit from it sooner and at the same time help establish criteria for it nationally based on our experience.
Other Bay Lakes Council Documents (for reference):
The five Unit Health Index parameters are Unit Size, Unit Growth, Trained Leaders, Advancement in the last year, and attending Summer Camp or equivalent.
Commissioner Service need to move resources from units with Health Index of 4 or 5 to units with Health Index of 1 and 2.
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MCC Dashboard
This will cover all units as data is available. Currently everything is online for Troops, and 4 of the 5 parameters are available for Packs in the MCC Progress
Why Focus on Unit Health?
The real reason for unit health is to increase the retention of the youth in them.
Units are given a score between 0 and 5, 5 being the highest. Each point comes from five areas: Size, Growth, Training, Advancement and Summer Camp participation — all are proven key indicators of unit success. Units scoring at the 0-2 levels are in danger of losing youth or folding completely. Working to get all of our MCC units to the top levels is everyone’s job.
On the MCC Dashboard, visit the Summary tab, lines 51-71 to see the overall status of the council. The percentage of Packs and Troops at each of the point levels is shown.
A great presentation on how to Identify Units Needing Attention Using Unit Health Metrics was created by the Nation’s Capital Area Council.
Michigan Crossroads Council
Click to open Dashboard. Visit the Summary tab lines 51-71 columns A-L.
National Capital Area Council
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Michigan Crossroads Council
Click for Pack and Troop Unit Health data
NOTE: Data in the above images is not current. Please click on each image to be taken to current data.
Unit Membership Size – Retention
New Renewal System Separates Membership Renewal and Unit Registration
1. The new Membership Renewal system is operational before March 17, 2024.
2. The Unit Registration will occur in 2025, more info coming later this year.
3. All Multiple Registrations expire on the same date as the Paid registration. This results in many District and Council renewals changing to year-end for those Scouters whose paid Registration is with the unit.
4. Renewal Period is 2 months before expiration and the following lapsed period is 1 month. National BSA sends 5 email notices to adult or youth parent/guardian. Unit Key 3 gets monthly emails from National BSA on member registration expiration status.
5. YPT being current is validated on the date renewed rather than the date of expiration.
6. The BSA member, youth or adult, selects all multiple registrations when making the paid registration. Starting with current multiple registrations, the member can either continue or Opt Out (drop) any multiple registration they now have. The Unit, District, or Council can opt out any person they wish using My.Scouting.org Roster Report. Either Opt Out ends that multiple registration.
7. Members can either pay with a credit card or pay at council as has been done. Pay at council is required when financial aid is provided. Individual ACH Payments are not available currently. Units have the option to pay for individuals with Credit Card, ACH, or Pay at council.
8. When Unit Registrations are done, unit membership is reviewed and required positions need to be filled. More information on this will be provided later.
9. After learning to do this new process, it will be quicker and easier than prior Rechartering.
New Membership Renewal and Unit Registration
Use the 2 sets of slides, the 2 webinars, and FAQ to learn more about what’s new.
Retention includes – things that should be completed prior to Unit Renewal:
- YPT Expirations
- Changing Charter Partners/Executive Officers
- Financial Aid
- Youth turning 18
- Within Troops
- Within Crews, Ships and Posts
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MCC Membership Suspension – Youth Protection
The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) places the greatest importance on creating the most secure environment possible for our youth members. One aspect is having our leaders trained in Youth Protection (YPT) with the most up to date guidelines. In order to ensure our leaders are versed on the most recent updates, leaders must retake the YPT training every two years. Registered Adults will receive warning emails at 90 days, 60 days, 30 days, 14 days and upon Expiration. Once the two year mark hits and YPT expires, the adult will no longer have access to My.Scouting and ScoutBook, and the adult will no longer appear on unit rosters. If a registered adult’s YPT expires and account access is suspended, they can forward their new YPT Completion Certificate to support@michiganscouting.org to regain access.
Keeping Charter Partner and Charter Partner Executive Officer Info Up-to Date
Charter Partner information should be corrected when it changes, saving additional work at recharter time. Charter Partner info is easily collected when doing the Annual Carter Partner agreement in the summer. When the Charter Partner Agreement form is reviewed with the Charter Partner in July and the unit is advised that the Charter Partner is not continuing, the unit has two months to get a new charter in place before rechartering. Getting a new Charter Partner in place normally takes a couple of months. The New Unit Application form and the Charter Partner Agreement form can be sent to Registration Services.
The Executive Officer must be the same for all units with the same Charter Partner. It is very desirable that the same person is also the Charter Org Rep (COR); this saves paying for two CORs when one could serve both units and be multiple in one of the units.
If only the Executive Officer (XO or IH) is changing, then only the Executive Officer Change form is needed. The New Unit Application form can also be used to update any of the info on the current Charter Partner.
Units that are not renewing
Units that do not renew by their renewal date should be sent the Unreregistered Unit Report form (Red Letter form) to complete. The unit will indicate their plans, and in the case of dissolving, recording the steps to take care of any assets.
Unit Membership Training – Position Specific
Training includes:
- New Trained Leader spreadsheet for each District
Overall Unit Training Status
Click above image (not current data) and go to the Unit_Training tab to see updated data
Individual Training Status
Click above image (not current data) and go to the Training tab to see updated data
Training Course Codes
Click above image and go to the Training Codes tab to reference the codes listed on the Training tab
Unit Advancement – Entering in Scoutbook
Scouts that continue to advance tend to stay in the program. They feel accomplishment and they are continually challenging themselves. While some Scouts choose to focus more on the adventure than advancement, overall, units that have healthy advancement numbers will be successful in retention.
Commissioners that would like to understand better how unit leaders use Scoutbook to track and report on advancement, a Scoutbook Sandbox is available for use. See the Link to the right as well as the instructions on its usage.
The Cub Scout Program Changes presentation is a great resource for understanding the upcoming Cub Scout program changes, effective June 1, 2024. Use the PDF presentation to learn about all of the changes to share with your Scouters. To view the slide explanations (“speaker notes”), in Adobe Acrobat you will need to click the orange speech bubble on the upper left of each slide, or alternatively click the Comments button on the right toolbar (turn on Comments).
Unit Attendance at a Special Long Term Summer Activity
The planned 2023 Camp Attendance, which includes both “in council” and “outside council” attendance and is the only metric that does not come from My.Scouting, is one of the Unit Health Index items. District Executives gather this information directly from the unit, inquiring whether the unit is or is not attending camp in the current year; the metric does not indicate the number of youth attending, solely that the someone from the unit is registered. DEs are working to include Cub attendance which will include both Cub Day Camp and MCC summer Cub camps. Older youth units camp attendance alternatives are under study. Data date for planned camp attendance are posted under the data on the Summary tab.
Obtaining your BSA Records
The recent redesign of My.Scouting has made viewing your own information much easier with the addition of My Profile. You can view not only your personal information, but your position, training, and award history. The following guide describes the features you can expect to see.
Catholic Charter Partner Changes – Diocese of Lansing
Letter from the Diocese of Lansing Statement from the National Catholic Committee on Scouting
