An archive of Camps, Cookies and Council Governance
in Girl Scouts of North East Ohio, 2007-2014
in Girl Scouts of North East Ohio, 2007-2014
UPDATED - 2/7/15
Girl Scouts: Where are we going? And who picks the direction?
Girl Scouting is searching for an identity. The GS corporate office wants to be recognized as the preeminent authority on all things relating to girls. The GSUSA Core Business Strategy implies that membership in Girl Scouting is a product: the more sold, the better. “ Greenbloods” want to preserve values and tradition along with camps. All agree that the defining characteristic of Girl Scouting is that it is girl-led. GSUSA tried to distill the essence of their successful tradition into six week courses that could be done anywhere by anyone. But it’s not working. Meanwhile, councils are selling camps, fabricating statistics to justify the liquidations, and dismissing volunteer concerns. If GSUSA corporate leadership stops serving their current members in hopes of attracting a larger customer base, they are undermining their reason for existence, betraying their girls, and alienating the members who fund them. |
How one council redefined what it means to be a Girl Scout
The official line:
“The ultimate responsibility for the Girl Scout Movement rests with its members. We govern by an efficient and effective democratic process that demonstrates our leadership in a fast-changing world.” -- from the preamble to the GSUSA constitution How this played out in GS of NE Ohio: Members were denied a voice in the most significant decision of our council. National allowed this to happen and the courts upheld it. GSNEO is now a paradox: a girl’s leadership organization that refused to acknowledge what its own girls told them and disregarded member participation. |
What About the Cookies?Historically, the GS cookie sale was openly acknowledged to be a council fund-raiser. Most of a council's operating budget came from cookie sales. As it still does, in most cases.
Now the emphasis is on cookies as a "financial literacy program for girls". Girls selling cookies are praised as "entreprenuers" who "own their own cookie business". |
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