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Supervisor Hidahl and Supervisor Thomas recommending the Board:
1) Find that a public benefit is derived from supporting funding towards the Boy Scouts of America AdventureFest Recruitment event, which is being put on by troops 645 and 454 from El Dorado Hills and 460 B and 460 G from Diamond Springs; and
2) Approve and authorize the Chief Administrative Officer to sign a funding agreement, consistent with the County's standard form and upon the approval of County Counsel, authorize payment of the $2,500 community funding contribution to the BSA Troop 645.
FUNDING: General Fund.
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DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
Since the start of COVID, there has been a tremendous impact on Scouting. Multiple Cub Scout Packs and Boy Scout Troops have folded, some after decades of continuous operation. There was hope that many would come back naturally after the end of the pandemic, but this has not occurred, and unless something is done to reverse the decline the future of Scouting in El Dorado County is increasingly uncertain.
Part of the problem is that these units operate on what is effectively a “conveyor belt” type process, with boys and girls coming into a Pack or Troop at one age, and then leaving a few years later. What the lock-down and gathering restrictions did, when continued for several years, was to cut off effectively all recruitment of new Scouts and Scouter Adults into these units, producing a “gap” in membership. As the last of the Pre-Pandemic Scouts are now nearing the age where they (and their families) will age out, there are very few to take up the torch, hence the threat to the continued existence of these organizations. This slow-motion delayed impact was both unforeseen and unforeseeable even as recently as the end of 2022, when there was still hope that the system would bounce back on its own.
However, this is more than about the delayed impact of County or State Policy on a group of volunteer organizations that are woven into the...
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