Consolidation will bolster Scouts’ honor and mission

Changing demographics have ushered in a wide swath of mergers, closings and consolidations up and down the public and private sectors in recent years.

In public education, population losses and migration trends have reshaped the physical plants of public school districts throughout the nation. In the city of Youngstown, for example, two public high schools stand today where once stood six.

Similarly in private business, economies of scale and fierce competitive pressures have substantially lessened choices in corporate America. Many an airline, telecommunication and financial institution has disappeared or been gobbled up by larger entities in the name of efficient right-sized operations.

The benefits wrought from such mergers and consolidations logically extend as well to nonprofit entitities. In the Mahoning Valley, this year’s dissolution of the longstanding Greater Western Reserve Council of Boy Scouts of America and its absorption into two other larger councils bode well for the fiscal health of the organization and in its ability to better serve its energetic recruits.

To be sure, pangs of sadness over the end of a long era accompany this transition, which became official last month. Then, five Scouting councils in Northeast Ohio were amalgamated into three. The Warren-based Western Reserve Council, which served Scouting in Trumbull, Mahoning, Ashtabula, Lake and Geauga counties, split in half. Scouting leaders from Trumbull and Mahoning counties joined the Akron-headquartered Great Trail Council, while Boy Scout organizations in the other counties became part of the Greater Cleveland Council.

Despite the sense of loss attached to the end of a physical administrative presence of BSA in the Valley, we’re confident the decision to dissolve last fall was not made lightly.

As Mike Jones, Scout executive for the Great Trails Council, put it, “Although this decision may for many be one filled with great emotion, it was a decision to move forward to improve the local sustainability of Scouting.”

THOUGHTFUL PLANNING

Clearly the merger did not happen on a whim. It came only after detailed population studies, budgetary projections and significant public input throughout the council.

In addition, mergers and consolidations to strengthen the overall health of the organization are nothing new to Scouting USA. Hundreds of them have been occurring behind the scenes for almost as long as the organization has existed.

Way back in 1927, the 12-year-old former Youngstown Council of Boy Scouts dissolved to become part of the larger Mahoning Valley Council. In fact, the national Scouting organization operates its own division dedicated exclusively to such consolidations.

It does so for good reason. The group’s underlying aim always is to further its noble mission to prepare young boys to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them bedrock Scouting values such as loyalty, trustworthiness, courtesy, kindness and thrift.

Just as it does in the public and private sectors, the rewards of downsizing are many for nonprofit groups such as Scouting. Prime among them include eliminating redundancies and reallocating resources to better serve individual members.

For example, because of the savings realized through the merger of the Western Reserve and Great Trail councils, the sprawling Boy Scout Camp Stambaugh in Mahoning County will receive an injection of $100,000 in major campground improvements and renovations, according to Jones.

Some perks of consolidation lack that visibility but have the same potential for lasting positive impact. The combined council will have a larger team of leaders and expertise to guide programming, a wider pool of volunteers to strengthen council activities and considerably less overhead costs in ridding the service area of duplicative operations.

The bottom line, however, remains that Scouting consolidations serve the best interests of the organization’s 23 million youth members and 960,000 adult volunteers. It means more resources can be devoted to outreach to attract more young charges to the character-building organization.