The Democratic Process Solution White Paper

Delegate Duties, National Governance, Opinions 4 Comments 2004 restructure, 2017 NCS, blue book, board of directors, core business strategy, councils, delegate, democratic process, frances hesselbein, governance, gsle, gsusa, leader issues, national board, national council, national delegate, volunteers

Well, here it is. Ever since writing Death Spiral: Governance Edition, I really wanted to take it to the next level and publish a white paper. So I did. It’s a culmination of what I have been doing for the past four years since I first wrote White Paper Hub Bub – which is attempting to get to the bottom of what is causing our Movement’s dysfunction. I guess it’s fitting that I wrote a white paper since a white paper is what kicked all of this off.

In The Democratic Process: THE Solution to What’s Troubling the Girl Scout Movement, I write about the disappearance of the democratic process in Girl Scouting, but I also lay down a road map on how to get it back. I’d like to thank everybody who helped with editing this paper. Additionally, I would like to thank those who, for the past four years, have let me bounce ideas off of them, listened patiently and answered my questions, gave me resources, and supported my blog. It is my sincere hope that this paper will be taken sincerely and seriously because I do think it is THE solution for what ails us. Continue reading

October 31 2019

Founder’s Day Scout’s Own

Traditional Stuff 1 Comment ann robertson, ceremonies, halloween, history, j-low

Today is Halloween, but for all of us here in Girl Scout land, it’s really Founder’s Day aka J-Low’s birthday. Birthday wishes are sent out via multiple sources on Facebook and shared multiple times by everybody! Halloween is always a very hectic day in my household due to trying to get everybody home from school, home from band practice, and attempting to cook dinner and eat it in time to get ready for trick or treating. I got all of this done and was checking my email when I realized I had completely forgotten to write up something for the blog. I always try to post something on March 12th and October 31st because I would hang my head in shame if I didn’t.

So I quickly flipped through a bunch of books and nothing jumped out at me. Then I remembered the GS Leader Magazine Archive hosted by the GS History Project which is run by the fabulous Ann Robertson – who will now get her own tag here on GSWAC (not a council). I’m sure she winced when she read that last line. Continue reading

October 22 2019

Girl Scout Troop Leader Experience Podcast Interview

Random Things That Don't Fit Anywhere Else Kinda Like Me 1 Comment alien biscuits, farthest north council, membership dues, memories all alone in the moonlight, troop 20, troop 2562, troop stuff

A few weeks ago, I was approached by the Girl Scout Troop Leader Experience Podcast (formerly the Girl Scout Volunteer Connection Podcast) and asked if I would be interested in being interviewed for a podcast. I said sure, why not? I warned Sarah, the host, that she might lose some listeners, but she said that was okay and she’d take that risk. 😉

If you’re brave enough to listen to it, I share some of my memories with my troop growing up (including the infamous Alien Biscuits story), experiences as a current leader, and some thoughts on the Farthest North vs. GSUSA case regarding membership dues.

There are a variety of ways to listen to this podcast. You can download it via iTunes here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/interview-with-amy-brown-of-girl-scouts-with-a-cause-gssc-mm/id1439828810?i=1000454147121

Or play it directly from the website here: http://girlscoutpodcast.com/interview-with-amy-brown-of-girl-scouts-with-a-cause-gssc-mm

Or if this works for you, it’s embedded here:

There might be more podcasts from me in the future, so be sure to subscribe!

October 13 2019

Reevaluating Dated Council Property Plans

Opinions 2 Comments camping, camps, councils, gsusa, money, outdoors

Echo Reardanz, a member of the Central Maryland council, recently shared her thoughts about the recent news from Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana regarding their Long Range Property Plan involving camp sales. She posted this message in various Facebook groups, and I also received permission to share it here as well.

In 2009 Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana (GSGCNWI) started their Long Range Property plan and announced phase one in 2011 ….. Please note this is also the same time that GSUSA revamped all their badges, introduced Journeys. It was when GS programming moved significantly away from any outdoor focus. It was only in 2014 when at the GSUSA National Convention in Utah that GSUSA members demanded an outdoor journey and then the subsequent Girls choice badges where girl membership voted on outdoor badges (over other choices) that the realization started to slowly dawn on GSUSA that girls need and want the outdoors. In 2017 GSUSA launched the option of an outdoor journey at each level. This past summer GSUSA partnered with North Face to launch new outdoor high adventure badges. GSUSA now has 4 program pillars one of which is “outdoors.” GSUSA in its 116th Congress legislative agenda document stated that “in 2019 Girl Scouts will expand its historic Mariner and Trailblazer troops across the country. By participating in these specialized troops, girls seeking wilderness and nautical adventures will develop their technical skills in fun and unique ways.” Continue reading

October 10 2019

Farthest North vs. GSUSA: The Animated GIF Edition

National Governance 4 Comments 2020 NCS, farthest north council, gsusa, membership dues, national board, national convention

Update: The Alaskan Supreme Court denied GSUSA’s request to reconsider.

So not too long after I finished writing the update about the Alaskan Supreme Court ruling in favor of Farthest North in their case against GSUSA regarding membership dues, I found out that GSUSA submitted a motion to Reconsider. This means they are asking the Alaskan Supreme Court to take a second look at their argument.

I don’t feel like writing another lengthy blog post, so I am just going to use animated GIFs to describe my thoughts. Here’s how I felt when I found out about GSUSA’s motion:

September 19 2019

Farthest North vs. GSUSA: The Final Battle

National Governance 15 Comments 2020 NCS, blue book, farthest north council, governance, gsusa, membership dues, national board, national convention, national council, national delegate

“Because the corporate governing documents vest authority to establish membership dues solely in the National Council of the Girl Scouts of the United States of America, we reverse and remand for further proceedings.” – The Supreme Court of the State of Alaska

And there it is, folks. The Alaskan Supreme Court rolled up a Blue Book and smacked GSUSA on the nose. Hard. A couple of times. And yet again for good measure. Continue reading

September 14 2019

The New YouTube SU 639 UNOFFICIAL Enrichment Channel

Random Things That Don't Fit Anywhere Else Kinda Like Me No Comments badges we don't need no stinkin badges, brownies, gsusa, journeys, stem, troop stuff, vtk

We briefly interrupt this non-membership dues related post to announce that the Alaskan Supreme Court has ruled in favor of the Farthest North Council over GSUSA. Overwhelmingly. The case will sent back down to the lower court with a ruling on the GSUSA Constitution, and all that’s left is for the lower court to determine the financial relief. I had been working on this blog post when the court ruling popped up suddenly. I wanted to acknowledge it but know that I will be following up with a blog post solely about the ruling and my take on it. It might be a couple of days because there’s a lot to cover. And real life gets in the way as always!

This will be a quick hitter, but I just wanted to share that I’m creating a YouTube series. I try to present some sort of enrichment after each of our service unit leader meetings, but not everybody can make them. Last year, I sent out a survey to our service unit asking how they wanted to receive UNOFFICIAL trainings, and I was surprised at the number who wanted a webinar format. Well, webinars are hard to schedule, so instead I thought I’d record my presentations instead. I figured recording them live at the meetings wouldn’t be very effective, so maybe I’d try out recording the presentation directly from my laptop the same way I recorded the goofy VTK & You! videos and see how it went. See, those VTK videos weren’t all for naught! That’s what I’m telling myself at least. Continue reading

August 19 2019

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

Ideas 2 Comments leader issues, service unit, volunteers

I would like to share something our service unit is using for our recruitment efforts this year. Our catchphrase is “We Got It Goin’ On!” and we hit the ground running when it came to our Back to School booths. A few months ago, I spoke with our SU’s Recruiting Coordinator about a few thoughts I had on the subject.

Later on, I rolled some ideas over in my head. Our numbers were actually UP this past year – 14%, in fact! This was after a steady decline since the merger, so we were very excited. We live in an area that’s growing pretty quickly, so there’s no reason why our numbers shouldn’t grow too. But even with the growth, we still didn’t create many new troops, and we feel that’s the lifeblood for continuing our increase. Right now many of our troops are full, and we need to spread the wealth. So this year, we wanted to put an emphasis on getting new leaders.

But how do we do this? That was the $64,000 question. Everybody these days is struggling to get volunteers. Many parents want to find troops, but there aren’t very many that want to step up and take the reigns to start a brand new one. I realized that we needed to take a new approach. In the past, it seems like our organization just relied on recruiting girls but crossing our fingers that the leaders and new troops would follow. We needed to be more aggressive. We go all out to show that Girl Scouts gives girls opportunities and an experience that they wouldn’t necessarily have elsewhere. Well, what if we showed women that they’ll also get that in return if they become a leader? Side note: I realize men can be leaders too. In fact, we have a male leader in our service unit! But for this, we specifically targeted women.
Continue reading

August 13 2019

Cybersecurity & CEI

National Operations, Opinions 6 Comments blue book, cei, core business strategy, councils, farthest north council, governance, gsusa, middle tennessee council, vtk

The Cybersecurity Basics badge for Seniors

Note: The following is a very nerdy post about computers!

So unless you’ve been under a rock for the past month or so, GSUSA recently released 42 new badges, including cybersecurity ones for Cadettes, Seniors, and Ambassadors! In a previous life, I used to be in the IT field, so I was very interested to see how these badges were presented to older girls. So I logged into the infamous VTK to check out the Senior Cybersecurity Basics activity plan.

One of the first activities is to learn about the ten principles of cybersecurity according to the GenCyber program. I won’t go through all of them at this point, but you can take a look at the cards with the principles and terms spelled out. I’m going to refer back to some of them later on. Continue reading