What is a COR? (Part 1 of my Charter Renewal Series)

What is a Chartered Org Representative? How many CORs took the job to get involved in Scouting and because “signing a couple forms a year” sounded like an easy way to dip a toe in the volunteer pool?  How many CORs are trained for their position? According to my source, less than 25% (for Pioneer Trails, we are about 6 out of 48)!  The COR’s roles and responsibilities can be summarized as follows: Represent the Chartering Organization (CO) to the Scouting Unit(s) and vice versa. Work directly with the Institutional Head (IH) from the Chartering Organization (CO). Encourage the Unit (maybe even coordinate) a quarterly service project to benefit the CO VOTE for District leadership - CORs are invited to the District Annual Meeting. For 2017, this will be on January 12th at 6:30 at 7160 Bayou Gulch Rd, Parker, CO 80134 Get involved with roundtable and encourage others from the unit to attend. The Chartered Organization Representative (COR) is the direct contact between the unit and the Chartered Organization. This individual is also the organization's contact with the District Committee and the Local Council. The chartered organization representative may become a member of the district committee and is a voting member of the council. If the chartered organization has more than one unit, one representative serves them all. The Chartered Organization Representative appoints the Unit Committee Chair.   Would you like to know more? I post most of the old messages to this group here. Check out my super-helpful Scouting blog here. I share some of my thoughts on training here. -- In Scouting, Paul Bicknell Assistant District Commissioner Pioneer Trails District

New emails from membership.scouting.org In addition to being a Unit Commissioner, I am also the Crew Advisor for Crew 780. This means I've been getting these new membership emails, just like you. Recently I've been receiving email messages from membership.scouting.org called "Lead Summary - Unit - Crew 780". They look nice and have colorful bars and they encourage you; "Please login to my.scouting.org and access your Application (or Invitation) Manager to view your status dashboard. For instructions, click here.". I did follow the links and I did figure it out (and it is a cool recruiting tool - see earlier email on updating your beascout pin). However, there is an easier way to learn about this new feature: Attend the Roundtable next week for a special presentation on this subject! Roundtable is Thursday, September 1st at 7:00pm. It is located at the Parker LDS Stake Center (7160 Bayou Gulch Rd. Parker, CO 80134) There will be a special presentation on Online Applications. We want to encourage at least one representative per unit to be there. Pssst... (Webelos "Meet N' Greet" has been moved to the October Roundtable) Would you like to know more? I've posted the old messages to this group here. Check out my super-helpful Scouting blog here. I share some of my thoughts on training here. -- In Scouting, Paul Bicknell Assistant District Commissioner Pioneer Trails District

From time to time, the Commissioners are asked to cascade information to the units we are responsible for helping. I am using this email service to make these types of updates more consistent and efficient. I will not be repeating the Council or District messages here, if you are interested in those communications, please see the links below. Please feel free to reach out to me in email or by phone to share your opinion or to ask a question. We look forward to working with each and every one of you.  Thanks for all you are doing for Scouting! Subscribe to Pioneer Trails email: http://www.pioneertrails.org Visit Denver Area Council: http://www.denverboyscouts.org Find Scouting Units in your area: https://beascout.scouting.org

How to Grow Membership

Sharing from Scouting Wire:
ONE EASY THING YOU NEED TO DO THAT WILL GROW MEMBERSHIP

If there was one simple action you could take to amplify your local recruiting efforts, would you take it? Obviously that question is a no-brainer and the answer should be a big ol’ YES! Even better, it only takes a few seconds to complete.

Updating your pin with current information on BeAScout is the easiest way unit leaders can help prospective Scouts and their families get in touch with a unit in your council. This quick process hardly takes a minute, yet it translates to significant gains to your council’s membership.

How significant? Historically, we’ve seen a 14.28% increase in member leads generated to councils because they’ve updated their pin. Once schools start up and parents are looking to involve their kids in activities, BeAScout is predicted to receive up to 50,000 unique viewers per week, and you won’t want to miss the opportunity to show off your unit.
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READ this entire post here
I've shared Scouting Wire's post above in-part with the call-to-action.

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In Scouting,
Paul Bicknell
Assistant District Commissioner
Pioneer Trails District

Subscribe to Pioneer Trails email: http://www.pioneertrails.org 

Visit Denver Area Council: http://www.denverboyscouts.org 

Find Scouting Units in your area: https://beascout.scouting.org 

What is a Unit Commissioner?

Welcome to the "Castle Rock West" Email List (again?)

Some of you already received my welcome message, others are new to the list following Charter Renewal. Welcome new Scouters! I pledge to do my best to not to repeat news that you can get from other sources (see links below to subscribe to District and Council email). This email list is intended for occasional communications. For example, Unit Commissioners are asked to share announcements with their units from time to time, like the new dates for the Pioneer Trails Merit Badge College. Speaking of Unit Commissioners, that brings me to the topic of this note...

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What is a Unit Commissioner, and what can they do for you?

A commissioner plays several roles, including friend, representative, unit "doctor," teacher, and counselor.

The commissioner is a friend of the unit. Of all their roles, this one is the most important. It springs from the attitude, "I care, I am here to help,what can I do for you?" Caring is the ingredient that makes commissioner service successful. He or she is an advocate of unit needs. A commissioner who makes himself known and accepted now will be called on in future times of trouble.

The commissioner is a representative. The average unit leader is totally occupied in working with kids. Some have little if any contact with the Boy Scouts of America other than a commissioner's visit to their meeting. To them, the commissioner may be the BSA. The commissioner helps represent the ideals, the principles, and the policies of the Scouting movement.

The commissioner is a unit "doctor." In their role as "doctor," they know that prevention is better than a cure, so they try to see that their units make good "health practices" a way of life. When problems arise, and they will even in the best unit, they act quickly. They observe symptoms, diagnose the real ailment, prescribe a remedy, and follow up on the patient.

The commissioner is a teacher. As a commissioner, they will have a wonderful opportunity to participate in the growth of unit leaders by sharing knowledge with them. They teach not just in an academic environment, but where it counts most—as an immediate response to a need to know. That is the best adult learning situation since the lesson is instantly reinforced by practical application of the new knowledge.

The commissioner is a counselor. As a Scouting counselor, they will help units solve their own problems. Counseling is the best role when unit leaders don't recognize a problem and where solutions are not clear-cut. Everyone needs counseling from time to time, even experienced leaders.

PLEASE - Let us know how we can help.

In Scouting,
Paul Bicknell
Assistant District Commissioner
Pioneer Trails District

Subscribe to Pioneer Trails email: http://www.pioneertrails.org 

Visit Denver Area Council: http://www.denverboyscouts.org 

Find Scouting Units in your area: https://beascout.scouting.org 

Greetings (First Email)

Greetings from your Unit Commissioners

Hello Scouters,

From time to time, us Commissioners are asked to cascade information to the units we are responsible for helping. I am going to try using this email service to make these types of updates more consistent and efficient. I will not be repeating the Council or District messages here, if you are interested in those communications, please see the links below.

Please feel free to reach out to me in email or by phone to share your opinion or to ask a question. We look forward to working with each and every one of you.

Thanks for all you are doing for Scouting!

Paul Bicknell
Assistant District Commissioner
Pioneer Trails District

Subscribe to Pioneer Trails email: http://www.pioneertrails.org 

Visit Denver Area Council: http://www.denverboyscouts.org 

Find Scouting Units in your area: https://beascout.scouting.org