Organizing a Boy Scout Troop

The Boy Scouts of America have long had a tradition of turning out young men who go on to make positive contributions to their community, and go on to do great things in life. Some examples famous Boy Scouts include people such as baseball great Hank Aaron, astronaut Neil Armstrong, President John F. Kennedy, and film great Steven Spielberg. If you don't have a local Scout troop that you boy can join, then you should begin thinking of organizing a Boy Scout troop yourself. Here is everything that you will need to do to begin organizing a Boy Scout troop yourself.

1. Learn the requirements. In order to properly organize a Boy Scout troop you need to first know what the requirements are. The national, state, and local requirements can be found by simply contacting the local council. The contact number can often be found in your local phone book, or by doing a quick browser search on the internet.
2. Ascertain local interest. Begin asking around your local community to figure out how many other people are interested in joining a new Scout troop. Put out notices on community boards, at the local schools, and even at local churches to see what the interest would be. Once you have this information in hand, you will have a better idea of what the success of your new troop is going to be.
3. Find a partner. It is always a good idea to have a partner, or sponsoring, organization to help you out when organizing a Boy Scout troop. Some of the best organizations to contact are local schools, community groups, and local schools. These organizations typically have facilities, organizational structures, and other helpful resources that can make your job a whole lot easier.
4. Appoint leadership committee. Every troop should have some kind of adult leadership committee that helps guide and run it. People that should be in this committee is the actual Scout leader, and two to four parents of potential Scouts. In addition to these people, you should also ensure that you have enough merit badge "counselors" to help sign off on the merit badges. Everyone that will be helping out in the running of the Scout troop should also receive the training necessary to help ensure that the troop is run properly. This training is usually provided for little or no cost by the local Scout Council.
5. Recruit scouts. Begin recruiting the actual scouts that will be in your troop. Put out flyers, and other information. Some examples of where you can advertise would be at local schools, churches, community bulletin boards, and at libraries.
6. Organize troop structure. The troop itself will need to have some type of "command" structure that will help ensure that it is running smoothly. This is a command structure of the Scouts themselves, and is somewhat separate from the leadership committee. This will include positions like Quarter Master, Patrol Leader, Troop Leader, and Assistant Troop Leader. Each position will have separate responsibilities and duties, make sure that each Scout that has been appointed to these positions are trained appropriately.
7. Start holding meetings. All that you have left to do now is to begin holding the Scout meetings. These meetings should be held consistently, and at the same time and location as much as possible.