Boy Scouts of America - Yankkee Clipper Council  Yankee Clipper Council - Boy Scouts of America
Northeastern Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire		 Waving American Flag
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Yankee Clipper Council BSA CSP

Welcome to the

Yankee Clipper Council

Boy Scouts of America


Council President, Larry HealeyScouting is delivered at the District and Unit level. Our Volunteer Leadership provides countless hours of service to our Scouts. Thank you.  Today, we need to recruit additional volunteers who can be responsible for the work that we need to complete to enhance our program.  These volunteers need to be held accountable for their decisions and their action.

At the Council level our responsibility is to support all of you.  This is however a shared responsibility, whereas one will not prosper with out the other. No organization can exist without understanding their customers.  Ultimately the youth, all 114,000 available youth within our geographic boundaries are our customers. Our adult volunteers who lead our youth are likewise our customers.

Our collective charge is: “To do our best…” to provide the best Scouting Program possible.  We may never be the biggest, the richest, but we can be the BEST.

"Service to youth is our reason for being"

Therefore, MEMBERSHIP must be a focus.
If we accept that the reason for being is Service to youth, then this is clearly our highest priority.  Adult leaders and the need for qualified and trained leaders can not be over looked.  Further each committee must look at succession planning.  All too often we find ourselves “comfortable” with the old ways. Our council must make continued strides for three non-traditional membership areas:

Learning for Life
ScoutReach to serve our high risk youth
Venturing

With increase MEMBERSHIP comes the ability to strengthen our FINANCIAL Position.  Yes, it takes manpower, and it takes funding, budgets, money to continue to deliver services.  New membership brings new opportunity to identify and solidify continued giving to this Council.  This is the business function within our organization and this must be taken seriously by all involved to allow continued growth.  We must learn to become self sufficient.  We should strive to raise the funds to support our efforts, our program. We need to review our Return on Investments of these efforts and seek strategies for continued growth. Isn’t that we ask our youth to do, to financially support the program at the unit and district level?

We need to build a stronger financial base, with multiple funding sources to continue our program. It has been suggested and we have embraced that continued Endowment giving is critical to our financial well being. We have elevated that to a new Vice President level, and have established a strong committee. Yet, this is only a part of the solution. Our units must back, they must support the council as to allow us to continue quality programs. We have completed the research, we better know our market and now we must address these areas.

Yes, through FINANCING comes the ability to development the "BEST" PROGRAM. 
PROGRAM takes on many meanings to each of us.

TRAINING is essential if we are to attract and retain quality leaders, who in turn produce the next generation of quality youth to fill the future adult ranks. This effort shall concentrate on both volunteers and professionals alike. If we are to develop the “best” council, then we need to develop our Human Resources.

Our CAMPING Opportunities provide the outdoor experience that attracts our youth. It is an important part of our program, yet can not survive on its own. This is a service of the Council not a requirement. Short term, long term camping experiences, family camping opportunities, and other outdoor experiences are imperative to our success.

Other ACTIVITIES fulfill the areas camping may not provide, yet are so important in the retention of Youth. And if we continue to retain members, of all ages, we can be assured our program is working.

Ladies and Gentlemen, none of this is possible with a plan. Our STRATEGIC PLANNING committee has the Charge of providing some guidance and direction for this Council to navigate, while presenting tactical solutions in achieving our goals.

I find it an honor and privilege to be asked to serve as your new Council President. I look at this as an opportunity to once again practice what I learned as a young Scout in my Patrol as its Leader and later as Senior Patrol Leader of my unit.

The Boy Scouts of America has a daunting task, to shape, build and mold the future leaders of our country. To instill the great values we know and cherish. This program has completed that task for nearly 100 years. Through the efforts of local councils and districts nearly 5 million young men and woman will become those leaders.

We as a council must continue to succeed with that effort. We can no longer sit back and simply rely upon the actions taken in the past. We must look ahead; learn from our mistakes and from our successes. We should never be satisfied with “good enough”.

Please remember as you drive home tonight, as you chat with a Scouting friend or family member, you are the council. It is not a building, a camp, nor a segment of program. Those are the components used to “serve youth”. I would also ask each of you to think about, How can I improve this service opportunity for the Youth, I spend time with?

Let me also share a small portion of a speech delivered by then Chief Scout Executive James E. West in 1940. “The Scouting Program is being intensified to meet the challenge brought on by world conditions, and the Scout Organization will make every effort to instill in the boys of America the character and courage necessary to solve the problems confronting the nation.”

It seems these words are applicable today…”When Tradition Meets Tomorrow”.

Therefore, it is time to move ahead, to embrace change, and to be an instrument of that change. Our basic values should never be compromised. "Our duty to”, never questioned.

Let me thank each of you for the Opportunity to serve, and “to do OUR best”.

Larry Healey