Did you know?  Trained Leaders have many super powers and are more attractive.  Plus, the more you know, the easier it is to lead Scouts and help your Pack, Troop or Crew.  

Cub Scout People: Ask yourself:

• Do you have Parents in your Pack who joined with their child last year, didn't "know Cub Scouting", and so didn't become a leader?
• Did they and their Scout like doing Cub Scouts over the school year?
• Do they "know enough" now to step up and become an Assistant Den Leader or Den Co-Leader or Committee Member?  

Yes, they know enough to lead and succeed.  Now is a great time to recruit parents to "step up".

Want more?  Build your Teams!  Here's how to do that this coming weekend:

• On Saturday, take a carload of parents to the Volunteer Service Center on August 16, 10:00 am, for Cub Leader Training led by this District's Cub Leader Trainer.  Free.  Register here.  (Email webmaster@southfultonscouting.com if you need a reminder about the login.)  The collaboration you do in the Training will make it worth the drive to the Scout Shop.

• On Sunday, take a carload of parents to Woodward Academy in College Park on August 17, 2:30 pm, for Cub Leader Training led by this District's Cub Leader Trainer.  Free.  Register here.  (Email webmaster@southfultonscouting.com if you need a reminder about the login.)  The collaboration you do in the Training with your team will make this Cub Scout Year fun.

If this weekend doesn't work, there are more trainings to come.  See our Calendar or atlantabsa.org/cub-leader-training.  Also: outdoor skills training for Cub Scout Leaders (scoutingatl.org/baloo) and Troop Leaders (scoutingatl.org/iols).

The Guide to Cub Scout Family Recruiting found in the downloads of the Atlanta Area Council Recruiting Resources main page describes steps for successful recruiting -- spoiler alert: Successful and Sustainable Recruiting Does Not Begin and End at School Sign Up Night!  If families are fired up at a Sign Up Night but have no Pack to join and no leaders to deliver a program, where are the new youth going to do Cub Scouting?  And do Packs with a handful of Leaders have the capacity to lead 50, 60, 80 or more? No.

To be successful, the best practice is to lay down the foundation with these Six Steps for Successful and Sustainable Recruiting and described in our Pack Run Recruiting Best Practices video, starting with:

(1) Make a Calendar of Fun Activities that families like -- activities they want to do -- if you plan those activities, you will be the Pack they want to join (you want families who want to "do" activities, not just "drop off" kids for you to mind). It's not too late!

(2) Let People Know – Promote Your Fun Events! -- there are many ways, like Flyers (both Council Flyers and Do It Yourself Flyers), and you can make a "Pack Packet" Flyer (with your events, your pictures, and a QR code to have families contact you) --  share with your families (in hand, by email, text, social media), and encourage them to share with their friends (by hand, by email, text, social media) -- and use BeAScout and Online Registration, they can sign up right now,  You Can Do This Now!

(3) Recruit More Leaders and Helpers -- yes, you need to do this throughout your recruiting process.  We do "get it": recruiting is hard.  But that page has many ideas about ways to approach leader recruiting so that your Pack can become an "Every Parent Helps" Pack,  "Every Parent Helps" Should Be Your Message!

(4) Grow your School and Community Presence so that you're known beyond current Pack families and have strong school relations -- be sure to get in for Open House/Meet and Greet/Meet the Teacher events -- plus build positive Community and Church profile,

all of that leads to (5) Sign-Up Events: not just the "School Sign-Up Night" scheduled in tandem by your Pack Leaders and our District Executive (Isaiah Campbell) and run by both the District Professional and Pack Leaders, but also Fun Joining Events that you create for your own Pack and Dens!  Any Fun Den or Pack Activity can be a Welcoming Joining Event for New Families -- let them "test drive" Cub Scouting!  

(6)  Then ... the last step is more program that's fun for kids and families.  Sure, Cub Scout Adventures for Rank and all, but also just Fun, Simple, Easy Activities that you do just because you want fun, many of which you'll find on this Great Big List of Things to Do and Places to Go Around Atlanta.

In your my.scouting.org account, you won't see "Youth Protection Training".  You'll see a link to "Safeguarding Youth" training.

This +/-90 minute training replaces Youth Protection Training.  Your existing YPT is valid through the earlier of (a) your YPT expiration date or (b) May of 2026 (one year after the launch of this new training course), but when you approach that date you'll need to take complete the new "Safeguarding Youth" training and pass the quiz.

Another new element: "Safeguarding Youth" training must be taken every year.   Or: an announcement from Scouting America Commissioners on FB says that after taking "Safeguarding Youth" training a 15 minute refresher course and quiz must be successfully completed annually thereafter.

Three likely FAQ:

Q:  I'm registering to be an adult leader for the first time and they told me to "take YPT" ... but I can't find it.  What do I do?

A:  Take "Safeguarding Youth" training instead, through your my.scouting.org account.

Q:  I'm currently an adult leader and my YPT is good through December of 2025 - do I need to take "Safeguarding Youth" training now?

A:  No.  You'll need to take it by your expiration date in December of 2025. But you can take it early.

Q:  I just registered as an adult leader in April so my YPT showed it was good through April of 2027 - when do I need to take "Safeguarding Youth" training?

A:  By May of 2026, or one year after the launch of this new training course.

Highlights of the most recent District News were these (click links for information):  If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? (SHARE YOUR STORIES!!!) ... Recruiting Step Five: Sign Up Events – Yes, Have More Than One! ... Project Completed: Den Meeting Plans for Mixed Grade Dens ... Opt In, Opt Out ... and from the week before:  More Den Meeting Plans for Mixed Grade Dens ... The Atlanta Recruiting Plan is Pack-Run, Year-Round and Local ... Email webmaster@southfultonscouting.com if you need a reminder about the login.

Or, "If a Scout has fun at an outing and no one shares the story, was Scouting fun?"   If you don't collect your stories -- ideally with pictures and video -- and show them to new prospective Scouts and families, how will they really know Scouting is fun?  More about promotion generally is here.  More Troop tools here (especially Scout to Scout peer to peer contact).  For more, see this On Scouting blog post.

Sign Up Events are not “one and done” – every Pack and Den should have more than one sign up event, because any fun Den or Pack event can be a “welcoming” event for new families, and a time to join.  A big opportunity is a “back to school” fun event to get new families signed up and engaged, scheduled with your school in coordination with your Field Director/Acting District Executive, Paul Odom – and if your Pack is Prepared, you can run your School Sign-Up Night yourself, just like you'll run your Fun Sign-Up Events on your own.

• We do share both a great Sign Up Event plan and script at the Council Sign-Up Events page that you can download and edit to fit your Pack and Leader Team. More below.

• Reminder: Sign-Up Events build on a foundation of A Calendar of Fun Activities, Pack Promotion – Flyers and Media and More (including BeAScout), Newly Recruited Leaders (yeah, gotta keep working that), and a strong School and Community Presence. 
• Because if you Build a Calendar, Promote it, Recruit Leaders, and have that School and Community Presence, your Pack and Dens can take off big time.

Any group joining event will need to cover what families need to know, which is shared at in our updated Guide to Pack Recruiting: 

• a Welcome and brief Overview of Cub Scouting,
• focusing on your Pack Program and Activity Highlights,
• a brief description of Dens, Handbooks & Advancement,
• a brief recognition of Den Leadership (and how every parent helps),
• plus brief information about Uniforms and Costs and your Pack approach to each. 
• Then pitch for completion of Online Registration through your Online Registration link. 

In that Guide to Cub Scout Family Recruiting, we’ve included a Script for any Sign-Up Event and we’ve also attached it in Word so that you can download and revise to fit your own Pack.  The Script breaks down the content into topic by topic parts noted above:

• For group presentations, you can assign different volunteers to make the brief pitch (and show that every parent helps – it’s not just the Cubmaster leading Cubs). 

• If you have an in person “station to station” event, those script topics can be delivered at your stations. 

More support is at our Sign Up Events page and the related pages about the Steps for Successful Recruiting.