VOA Bulletin: 2020-2021 Trimester 2

OCTOBER 1, 2020 - JANUARY 31, 2021 TRIMESTER 2, 2020–2021

THE VOA BULLETIN for Venturing Officers and Advisors

WHAT WE HAVE BEEN UP TO Mission Statement of the National VOA

2

Reports from the National VOA

3

Leadership Evaluation and Area Development

4

Engagement & Outreach

5

VOA Application & JTECV

6

Additional Projects

7

Feedback & Questions from the Field

8

2 Mission Statement of the 2020-2021 National VOA

As the members of the 2020-2021 National Venturing Officers' Association, We mentor and empower youth to build strong relationships with VOAs and Venturers, encouraging youth to seek leadership opportunities in Scouting and their communities.

3 2020-2021 National VOA Tyler Grey

Samantha Troiano

National VOA President

National VOA Vice President

Rebuilt the JTE for Council Venturing

Updated LEAD (Leadership Evaluation

submission portal along with fellow NVOA members

and Area Development) questions to reflect the new

Developed and launched the National Noteworthy

trimester

Crews Initiative

Compiled VOA position profiles alongside the rest of

Hosted the National VOA Game Night

the NVOA

Began promoting the Older Youth Programs: An

Began editing and auditing the VOA Administration

Essential Part of Scouting conference

Guide and VOA Standard Operating Procedures

Continued working on restructuring the VOA structure

Assisted with the 100% completion of Journey to

for the new Territory Service structure

Excellence for Council Venturing

Amy Hermann

Ian Arnold

Southern Region VOA President

Northeast Region VOA President

Hosted the Journey to Excellence

Held 1:1 calls with all Region VOA

for Council Venturing Open House alongside the

Vice Presidents and Area VOA Presidents

Strategic Planning and Pilots subcommittee of the

Held a successful membership campaign:

National Venturing Committee

#IChooseVenturing

Hosted monthly Southern Region VOA conference

Assisted the NVOA in developing and updating VOA

calls, and monthly 1-1 calls with all Area VOA

structure to reflect the new Territory Service structure

Presidents

Contributed to the National Venturing Membership

Developed and launched the National Noteworthy

Subcommittee as they work to begin the execution of

Crews Initiative

the Venturing Membership growth plan

Andrew Steckner

Juliana Murillo

Central Region VOA President

Western Region VOA President

Compiled the Central Region

Completed the Region Venturing

Venturing Leadership Award Nominations

Leadership Award selection

Developed and launched the National Noteworthy

Assisted the NVOA in developing and updating VOA

Crews website

structure to reflect the new Territory Service structure

Rebuilt the JTE for Council Venturing submission portal

Hosted 1-1 calls with all Area VOA Presidents to

along with fellow NVOA members

discuss and analyze

Fostered relationships between the Central Region

Presented at multiple Western Region Older Youth

VOA, and the Central Region Quarterdeck

Program Roundtables to promote Venturing

LEAD results

4 Leadership Evaluation and Area Development Thank you to all Area VOAs for participating!

LEAD is a set of metrics to guide Area VOAs in identifying opportunities for growth and areas of high performance

CLICK HERE FOR RESOURCES! Nationally highest scoring categories: Establishing a social media presence, VLA & VOA Officer selection and promotion, National VOA Contact sheet updates, governance structure, and Trimester Report submissions.

Nationally lowest scoring categories: VOA formation, maintaining a social media presence, maintaining a web presence, and inancial planning.

On average area VOA's improved by 3.6 points on their overall score from Trimester 1 to Trimester 2.

5 Engagement & Outreach Trimester 2 growth in total followers

NVOA Twitter Presence The NVOA has been consistently using Twitter to engage with Venturers, and the other leaders of the older youth programs of the BSA.

@NVOAPresident – 7.8% @NVOAVP – 10.8% @WRVPresident – 4.0% @SRVPresident – 12.4% @NERVPresident – 6.0% @CRVPresident – 0.9%

VOA Literature Updates In the upcoming months, the National VOA will be updating the VOA Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), along with the VOA Administration guide to reflect the new VOA structure. Do you have any photos from the field you would like to see included in some of the new VOA literature? Submit photos here!

6 Apply for VOA Office for the 2021-2022 term!

Help lead the adventure and guide the future of the Venturing program by serving as a territory or national VOA Officer. National VOA Officer applications are due February 28, and Territory VOA applications are due March 15.

Apply Today!

Position Descriptions

Journey to Excellence for Council Venturing As a nation, we achieved 100% submissions for the 2020 JTECV! Congratulations and thank you to all the council and area VOAs who helped us achieve this amazing accomplishment.

Gold Level – 12 Councils – 4.68% Silver Level – 26 Councils – 10.15% Bronze Level – 24 Councils – 9.38% National Average – 1011 pts.

7 Additional Projects National Noteworthy Crews is an annual recognition for 3 to 5 Venturing crews

National Noteworthy Crews Apply today!

across the nation. Crews will be selected for approaching Venturing from an “outside of the box perspective”. A crew officer must submit an application for their crew to be considered by March 31st, 2021. The NNC application is a series of open-ended questions that can be answered with as much or as little detail as you provide. Check out the NNC Application here!

Older Youth Programs: An Essential Part of Scouting Join us Summer 2021 at Philmont Training Center to envision the future of Venturing, and the fellow Older Youth Programs of the BSA. This week-long training will include brainstorming and educational sessions open to anyone interested in the future of Venturing, Sea Scouting, and Exploring.

Register Now!

8 Feedback & Questions from the Field

...

We want to hear from YOU! To streamline the connection between the National VOA and the field, we've created a form to collect feedback on Venturing policies, resources, and any ideas to improve or grow the program. This form is monitored weekly and all feedback submitted will be viewed and considered by national leadership.

FILL OUT OUR FORM HERE!