National Council has recently completed a major update of BeAScout.org, the BSA's "find a Scouting unit near you" website, and a key element of the "Scout Me In" recruitment campaign.  The update makes it possible for each and every unit in Seneca District to appear on the Web, even if a unit has no website or social media account.

Here's how it works.  BeAScout.org creates a contact page for each unit in its database and a link to go with it -- a link that can be sent by e-mail, shared on social media, and added to other websites.  Using the third choice, each Seneca unit's contact page link has been added to the district website, SenecaDistrict.org.  Links for packs are on the
"Cub Scouts" page, links for troops are on the
"Boy Scouts" page, and links for crews are on the
"Venturers" page.

Since these three program pages are visible to any search engine, anyone searching the Web for a Seneca unit should be able to find SenecaDistrict.org and use the unit's contact page to get in touch.

How exactly are the contact pages linked?  If a unit has a website or social media account, the link is the letter "r" in parentheses next to a unit's number (i.e. (r), which stands for "Request More Information").  Otherwise, the link is the unit's number.

Some Seneca units are storing official BSA forms, from both the National Council and the Great Trail Council, on their website.  These documents include the Youth Application, the Adult Application, and the Annual Health and Medical Record.

No doubt done as a convenience for unit members, this practice should stop.  Instead of storing such forms on a unit's website, it is best to link to the official download pages on National Council's website, Scouting.org, and the Great Trail Council's website, GTCbsa.org.

By linking to the official download pages, your unit will always have direct access to the current versions of official BSA forms.  Forms will never be rejected because they're out of date, and your unit's webmaster won't need to spend any time checking for the latest forms and uploading them to your unit's website.

Links to download pages do change, but not that often.  If a link does change, there's a good chance you'll be automatically redirected to the new page.  If not, at worst, your unit's webmaster will need to update that link.

To save your webmaster time, here are the links to some key download pages:

National Council Forms

The Youth and Adult Applications can be found on this page:
Scouting Forms from the National Council

The Annual Health and Medical Record can be found on this page:
Annual Health and Medical Record

Great Trail Council Forms

GTC Forms can be found on this page:
Council Forms and Resources

The Guide to Safe Scouting has been updated.  The May 2018 updates appear in both the online and PDF versions of the guide.

You can find both versions by following this link.

National Council has changed the requirements of the following merit badges:

Required Merit Badges:
Camping, Communication, Emergency Preparedness, First Aid, Personal Fitness

Elective Merit Badges:
Animal Science, Archaeology, Archery, Astronomy, Athletics, Canoeing, Chemistry, Coin Collecting, Crime Prevention, Electronics, Energy, Insect Study, Medicine, Nature, Plant Science, Public Health, Radio, Scouting Heritage, Sculpture, Theater, Weather, Wilderness Survival.

A detailed list of the changed requirements for each of these merit badges is available on the "Boy Scouts" page.  Just open this link and follow the "Merit Badges" link.

The current requirements for each merit badge can be downloaded from the "Merit Badges" page on Scouting.org.

The next phase of the BSA's Family Scouting Program, starting Girl Troops, will launch on
1 July 2018.

The Great Trail Council has established a 180-day action plan for chartered organizations to recruit and train the adult leadership needed for the new Girl Troops.  The goal is for the new Girl Troops to be officially up and running in February 2019 so that they can attend a 2019 summer camp.

A copy of the 180-day timetable can be downloaded using this link.

National Council has released a new, updated edition of Youth Protection Training (YPT).  Just like the old training, it's available online at My.Scouting.org and is good for two years.

There is a change, however, and it's that every registered adult Scouter must take the new training before 1 October 2018, even if their old Youth Protection training has not expired.

UPDATE:  All non-YPT 2.0 trainings will expire on 30 September 2018.  This policy update was announced on My.Scouting.org on 14 Sep. 2018.  You need to login to see it.

Since this requirement applies to all Scouters in the U.S., the training is in high demand.  This means there may be times during the day when it is not possible to open the training after you login to My.Scouting.org.  It may be best to take the training early in the morning to take advantage of Ohio's location in the Eastern Time Zone.  Late night in Ohio may not be late enough since it will be early evening on the West Coast.

IMPORTANT:  The training works with the Chrome browser on Windows PCs and the Safari browser on Macs.  It may not work with other browsers.  So, if you have problems, switching browsers may be your best bet.

The training doesn't take long, but don't wait until September to take it.  Do it now and avoid the last minute rush.

When Boy Scout rank requirements change, National Council releases a PDF handout of all rank requirements that includes the changes.  This handout is an updated version of the "Boy Scout Rank Requirements" section found at the back of the Boy Scout Handbook.

The current PDF handout was released in November 2017 and is available on Scouting.org.  You can also find a link to it on the "Boy Scouts" page by using this link and then clicking on the "Awards & Advancement" link.  You'll find the link to the handout under the heading "Current Rank Requirements."  Printing it on 8.5"x11" paper produces an easy to read copy, best suited for a three-ring binder.

You'll also find a link named "Current Rank Requirements -- Simplified Handbook Insert."  It links to a second PDF designed to print two pages of the handout per sheet of paper.  The sheets are meant to be stapled together at one corner and can be folded in half to fit in a Handbook.

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