Appointment of the First Safe Guarding Youth Position in Scouting America
Once again, Sea Scouts leads the way today as they did when they began in America in 1912. Today we are announcing Sea Scouts is leading the way in being the first of all the Scouting programs to name a person, Josh Gilliland, to lead the task force on Safe Guarding Youth.
In Scouting, we will not compromise the safety of our youth, volunteers, and employees. Safety is a value that must be taught and reinforced at every opportunity. Scouting America places the greatest importance on creating the most secure environment possible for our youth members. To maintain such an environment, Scouting America developed numerous procedural and leadership selection policies and provides parents and leaders with resources for all programs the Cub Scout, Scouts BSA, Venturing and, Sea Scouting programs. We are all responsible and must hold each other accountable to provide a safe environment for all participants. We encourage everyone to lean in on safety with taking the brand new Safe Guarding Youth Training at https://www.scouting.org/training/youth-protection/ting.org/training/youth-protection/ (formerly Youth Protection Training), and be current on Safety Afloat, Safe Swim, and Hazardous Weather trainings on My.Scouting.org.
Josh Gilliland is moving from the role of Marketing and Communications lead to the role of Safe Guarding Youth lead in the National Sea Scout Task Force. We are grateful for the dedication, creativity, and 7 years of faithful service that Josh has provided to Sea Scouts Marketing and Communications. He will continue to serve as Skipper for his ship, as well as, embarking on this new adventure as the first Safe Guarding Youth Lead. Thank you again Josh, we look forward to seeing you at the Helm of your new and important role.https://seascout.org/safety-moments/.
Appointment of New Marketing and Communications Lead
We are pleased to announce the new lead for Marketing and Communications is Janice Downey. Many of you may be familiar with this name. Janice has served over 22 years as a volunteer and a professional. She was the National Director of Sea Scouts from 2017-2019 and has agreed to come back and join us in a volunteer capacity. She is well known within Scouting for her Marketing and Innovation. She has launched successful programs such as:
- the signing of the first MOU with the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary in 2017
- creating the most new Merit Badges including: Robotics, Animation, Chess, Programming, Digital Technology, Welding, Search & Rescue, Mining, Game Design, Sustainability, Signs-Signals & Codes, Exploration and more
- establishing the cyber Chip for digital safety across all Scouting programs
- making merit badges come alive with Augmented reality and interactive elements
- developing and launching the kindergarten Lions program and much more.
Please join us in congratulating Janice on her new role. We look forward to working with her and the national Marketing and Communications Task Force to achieve the goals and values of Sea Scouts across Scouting America. If you would like to be a part of helping this Task Force achieve their mission, please share your interest at seascoutmc@gmail.com.