In August 2023, all BSA registrations changed to 12 months.
Parents and leaders can renew their registration online two months before the membership expires.
My.Scouting displays a reminder notice in the upper right upon login when your registration is due to renew within two months. An email membership renewal notice is also sent with a link that can be used.
Click on the Notice icon to open the renewal page.
Review to ensure everything looks correct, then click on the “Go To Payment” button.
You will be prompted to sign and agree to the BSA Terms and Conditions, just like you did when you joined the BSA. (Please review before signing).
Click on “Go to Checkout Summary.”
The checkout page shows the fees to pay and allows you to adjust the Scout Life Magazine Subscription.
NOTE: The default is to subscribe. You will need to “uncheck” the box if you do not wish to subscribe.
Proceed to enter your Credit Card information.
The payment process will default to the billing address record on file. Please check this. If the Credit Card has a different address, you can change it.
Click on “Place Order” and your membership is now renewed.
Once the credit card process is completed, your receipt will show. Click on the “Complete Registration” tab at the bottom and you will be directed back to your application in My.Scouting.
Changes to the Cub Scout Program now in effect as of June 1, 2024
The Cub Scout program will be updated for the 2024-25 program year. Cub Scout program changes are important for Scout leaders of all levels to know about. The new updates are based on feedback from over 23,000 parents and Cub Scout leaders through various surveys and data. The National Cub Scout committee identified four key improvements.
The four areas of improvement are the Bobcat badge, Cub Scout Adventures, Webelos, and Cub Scout Awards.
Bobcat
Bobcat will become a required Adventure for each rank and is designed to be the first Adventure earned each year. The requirements for the Bobcat Adventure are different for each grade to make them age-appropriate.
Cub Scout Adventures
Cub Scout Adventures have been improved to make it easier to deliver the program to multi-rank dens or as a Pack. A Cub Scout will need to earn six required Adventures and two elective Adventures to complete each rank. Required Adventures reflect the aims and focus areas of the BSA. There will be an increase in the number of elective adventures to choose from.
Webelos and Arrow of Light
Webelos and Arrow of Light will be separated. Webelos becomes the 4th-grade program in Cub Scouting. Arrow of Light becomes a stand-alone badge of rank for 5th graders and will no longer be associated with Webelos. Arrow of Light will be the program that prepares Cub Scouts to join Scouts BSA.
Cub Scout Awards
Cub Scouts Awards will be reimagined as Cub Scout Adventures. Topics like camping, STEM, and range and target sports are reimagined into elective Adventures that can be used towards earning a badge of rank.
What’s not changing?
For one: the Scout Oath and Law. That was nonnegotiable.
The uniforms also are not changing.
But maybe most importantly, the overall goal of the Cub Scout program — character, citizenship, personal fitness and leadership — remain the same.
Cub Scouting’s values remain embedded in the Scout Oath, the Scout Law, the Cub Scout motto, and the Cub Scout sign, handshake and salute, as they always have been.
Summer is here! What rank is my Cub Scout now?
Cub Scouts who just finished kindergarten are now Tiger Cub Scouts and can start work on the updated Tiger program from now all the way through next spring.
Cub Scouts who just finished first grade are now Wolves.
Cub Scouts who just finished second grade are now Bears.
Cub Scouts who just finished third grade are now Webelos.
Cub Scouts who just finished fourth grade are now Arrow of Light.
Children who begin kindergarten this fall can start working on the new Lion requirements once they start school in August or September.
Click here to learn more about the aims and methods of Cub Scouting.
The Scouting adventure, camping trips, high-adventure excursions, and having fun are important to everyone in Scouting—and so is your safety and well-being. Completing the Annual Health and Medical Record is the first step in making sure you have a great Scouting experience.
The three page form has a Part C that needs to be filled out and signed by a physician. There needs to be a current set of vital signs (i.e. blood pressure, heart and respiratory rate, body temperature, etc.) Part C is only required for participation in events lasting longer than 72 hours, all Boy Scouts of America participants are encouraged to complete this pre-participation to the activity.
Kaiser Permanente is a local medical group that provides medical care for approximately 74% of all attendees to Camp Hi-Sierra. Kaiser changed its policy last year so that all youth groups get the same, generic form for Part C. The Council Risk Management Committee determined that these Kaiser forms are acceptable as long as they have a current set of vitals.
Please note this Kaiser form is acceptable to go to Camp Hi-Sierra, but is not accepted for any of the High Adventure Bases or Jamborees. If you are attending a summer camp other than Camp Hi-Sierra, please check with that Council to determine whether or not they will accept the Kaiser form.
We are modernizing! The Council has begun the transition to a new system named Black Pug. This exciting tool will consolidate four systems to one – streamlining event registrations, payments, check-in, and managing your unit account.
Over the next few months, you will see changes to how payments are processed at the front desk or over the phone, reserve camping, and sign up for events.
Setting Up An Account
A Black Pug account allows you to save your activity data, makes registering faster, and access your unit account if you have a leadership role in your unit. Below is how to get started! If you are a committee chair, make sure to register with the email address on file in my.scouting.org so that it automatically syncs you with your unit.
Video below includes:
- Creating account
- Editing profile
- Changing password
- Import and manage roster
- View past registrations
Registering For Events
A Black Pug account allows you to save your activity data, makes registering faster, and access your unit account if you have a leadership role in your unit. Below is how to get started! If you are a committee chair, make sure to register with the email address on file in my.scouting.org so that it automatically syncs you with your unit.
Videos below includes:
- Finding information about event or training
- Who to contact for questions
- Entering contact information and participant information
- Required information in red
- Additional actions – Adding or deleting participants. etc
- Pay schedule and completing check-out process
- Council policies
Accessing Roster Imported By Council
Once a month we will update the roster in Black Pug to assist you in registering on behalf of your unit and to valid membership for anyone registered to stay overnight. For anyone in your unit with roster access they will be able to see the roster and use it when registering.
Videos below includes:
- How to see the units that you are linked
- Accessing the roster
- Using the roster to register
- Viewing activities by participant
Unit Account Management
Every unit has a controller (committee chair) that has the keys to the unit and can provide different access to other members of their unit to see the roster, make payments, see current unit account amounts, and more. The below video is for the controller of the unit.
Videos below includes:
- How to add additional trusted people for your unit
- Deposit to your Unit account
- Different levels of access that can be set up
- How to see a record of unit transactions.
We have an important update for you. A memo about BSA National fee updates was released to Council Key 3s during the National Annual Meeting of the BSA early this month. This change is typically announced in mid-July.
As you might expect, information has quickly made the rounds via social media, and we are aware that many of our volunteers have heard portions of the message, if not the whole message. While we’d like to have all of the answers for you today, the changes that are coming will take time for our council to understand how they affect our units. Rest assured that the Council Executive Board and Staff are working to define the scope of the changes. We want to present our frontline volunteers and parents with the right information rather than speculation.
For a summary, click here.
So, what do we know?
1) Some fees are increasing, and some are staying the same. In the setting of economic inflation and the National Council exiting from bankruptcy, this is an unfortunate but necessary consequence of ensuring that Scouting will continue. New fees and the changes below will take effect on August 1.
2) The adult fee increase is directly related to the cost of the new enhanced background check. California AB 506 rules do not supersede the BSA check and remain requirements for volunteers in all youth service organizations in the state.
3) There is a new fee of $25 for newly registered Merit Badge Counselors (MBC). This fee applies to those only serving as an MBC and no other role. For those currently only serving as an MBC, this fee will apply at recharter time for the 1/1/24 to 12/31/24 time frame.
4) Our local council annual insurance fee will increase to cover rising insurance costs for the council. Our local insurance fee will be $16 per person, a $4 increase starting August 1. Merit Badge Counselors will continue to benefit from insurance but not pay into our insurance program.
5) New member fees will no longer be prorated. Both youth and adults will pay the full annual membership fee and will renew their membership on the anniversary date of joining Scouting. The current recharter process will change. We are unsure of the exact changes, but we expect that the onerous recharter process will be simplified by this change.
6) Because member fees will no longer be prorated, the SVMBC insurance will also no longer be prorated.
7) Existing members will renew their membership during their normal registration/recharter cycle through March 2024. Moving forward, all members will renew on their anniversary date.
- Existing members’ Anniversary date will be their unit recharter month.
- New members’ Anniversary date will be the month they joined.
In summary, beginning August 1, 2023, all new youth and adult members who join Scouting will be enrolled in a 12-month membership cycle and BSA will cease prorating fees. Both youth and adults will pay the full annual National Council membership fee and will renew their membership on the anniversary date of joining Scouting. All proration of membership fees will be eliminated.
Below are our updated fees:
We will update you with additional information as we learn more. This information will be sent via email and will be updated on the council website.
We hope to better understand these changes in the next few weeks and appreciate your patience as we learn more.
Yours in Scouting,
Chris McGugan, Council President
Jeff Thompson, Council Commissioner
Eric Tarbox, Scout Executive
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