briones.ggacbsa.orgGGAC Briones – Web page for Boy Scouts of America in cities of Lafayette, Moraga, Orinda, Pleasant

Hill and Walnut Creek. Home CalendarBriones News Archive District Awards Activities Advancement Contacts OA Chapter Units Eagle Information GGAC Menu Home CalendarBriones News Archive District Awards Activities Advancement Contacts OA Chapter Units Eagle Information GGAC Search Search Facebook Twitter Instagram Briones District Briones District is in the Golden Gate Area Council and covers the communities of Lafayette, Moraga, Orinda, Pleasant Hill, and Walnut Creek Briones District Leaders Briones District Operations Meeting Thursday, March 21, 2024 Via Zoom Briones Commissioners Meeting Thursday, April 4, 2024 6:30 pm Lafayette Library – Arts & Sciences Room 3491 Mt. Diablo Blvd. Lafayette Roundtable In Person or Via Zoom Thursday, April 4, 2024 7:00 pm Lafayette Library – Arts & Sciences Room, 3491 Mt. Diablo Blvd. Lafayette Scouts BSA Theme – Financial Management Page Updated 3/11/24 ***** Briones Fellowship and Unit Recognition Awards! Sunday, March 10, 2024 Eagle Scout Project of the Year Chase Belhumeur – Troop 224B Caitlin Loughran – Troop 303G VFW Eagle Scout of the Year Nia Ho – Troop 200G Award for Gracious Service Heather Tzortzis Award for Distinguished Commissioner Service William (Bill) Lew Charles E. Savage Award for Exemplary Program Leadership Amy Cole Lifetime Service Award Matt Ariker Community Partner Russell Stepp & St. Monica’s Catholic Church District Award of Merit John Mlynek Rodolfo Martell GGAC Scouting Family Youth protection is a core value of the Golden Gate Area Council. We have an update on the Live Scan background check requirement of California law AB 506, which adds layers of protection to our already robust BSA Youth Protection and Barriers to Abuse policies. As noted in previous communications, all youth service organizations (e.g. Scout units, church groups, and sports teams) are required to meet AB 506 standards as of January, 2022. Two of the AB 506 standards affect all adult volunteers, all employees, and many of our families. Mandated Reporter Training from the State of California: Mandated Reporter Training is required in addition to our BSA Youth Protection Training. Volunteer leaders must complete the 2 hour training and upload their certificate at California Scouting. They must also complete a Live Scan background check : A Live Scan background check (the digital version of inked fingerprinting) is required for all volunteers and staff. Live Scan replaces previous background checks; all volunteers will have to complete this once. Please follow Step 3 at California Scouting/GGAC and use your web browser’s pdf reader to open the Live Scan Request Form. Only the Applicant Info” section needs to be completed. (Note: if your default settings are to open pdf files in Adobe Acrobat, the form may not be populated with our council’s unique routing number) Continue to refer to the California Scouting site, developed by all California councils, to follow the steps necessary for your training and Live Scan background check. It is imperative that you complete steps 1-3. Local information will continue to be available at GGAC Youth Protection. We appreciate your patience and assistance as we join all California Youth Service Organizations in improving youth protection. Yours in Scouting Tom Weibert Council President Mike Hale Scout Executive Michael Allison Council Commissioner All GGAC adult volunteers must be registered with the BSA and be Youth Protection Trained (YPT) to ensure that all adults know how to recognize and correctly report behaviors suspicious for grooming and abuse. On May 19, 2021 the GGAC Executive Board adopted a YPT policy to reinforce our awareness of Youth Safety. GGAC now requires that all registered adults 18 and over maintain YPT compliance for their entire registration period. As it is currently possible for YPT to expire during that period, this will require adults to refresh their YPT training on an annual basis. GGAC has a new YPT Policy for Rechartering . The policy is as follows: All adult leaders MUST be trained in Youth Protection for the full length of their current registration period. Basically, that means that for our 2022 recharters, every adult’s YPT certificate must expire in 2023 or 2024. If you have adults who need to complete YPT, Marie Mlynek would be happy to do an in-person or Zoom YPT training for your unit so that every adult gets trained at the same time. Please reach out to him to set up a time. My Scouting sends reminders at 90, 60, and 30 days prior to YPT expiration. The BSA updated its YPT course materials effective June 1, 2021. If your YPT training is not current or will expire before December 31, 2021, you should complete the course as soon as possible. If your YPT training is current, you do not immediately have to take the updated course, but you will need to ensure compliance with GGAC policy. Learn more about YPT training here . Check your YPT status via My Scouting here. ***** Mental health issues have become a major concern for several units, due to the recent deaths of two students in the Lamorinda area. May is mental health awareness month. BSA doesn’t have its own mental health training, however, Andrew, our former District Executive, was able to find some resources: https://www.scouting.org/outdoor-programs/trail-to-adventure/supporting-our-scouts-mental-health-at-camp/ https://oa-bsa.org/article/mental-health-awareness https://scoutingwire.org/keeping-an-eye-on-our-mental-health/ Another resource is Beingwellca.org Graham Wiseman from Troop 200 is the founder of Beingwell and is a valuable mental health resource. For printed BSA mental health flyers click on the links below: Psychological First Aid Youth Suicide Prevention Depression ***** Please use the information here: https://www.scouting.org/health-and-safety/safety-moments/pre-event-medical-screening/ for pre-event medical screenings. ***** Make sure that you are logging your unit’s service hours through the Activity Log on Scoutbook. Reporting these hours is very important so that the National Council can tabulate the total number of hours our organization gives as service nationwide. ***** The new Guide to Advancement 2021 is available. Go to: https://www.scouting.org/resources/guide-to-advancement/ to learn more or download a copy. ***** Make sure that you are keeping up with your Invitation Manager and Application Manager on www.my.scouting.org ! That is where many potential Scouting Families reach out to us. ***** The Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek has some great opportunities for Eagle projects or conservation service hours. We will also be working together in the near future to offer rank advancement at the garden. Please reach out to Marie Gelin, Children’s Education Manager at [email protected] if you are interested in those opportunities. ***** Check out the new User Support page from our council at https://ggacbsa.org/support/ . This page has support for passwords, Scoutbook, BeAScout Pins, and lots of other issues. ***** Please check out: https://campwolfeborocaliforniascoutsbsa.shutterfly.com/pictures/1088 . These pictures are most recent one taken at Camp Wolfeboro. Your FOS donations directly help to fix and maintain our properties. ***** Certificates of Insurance for 2023 are now available from Council. Please let Marie Mlynek know if your Scout Unit needs one and who needs to be listed as the property owner. ***** The Covid page on the Council website is updated regularly! Be sure to check it to see the latest on what activities are allowed. http:/www.ggacbsa.org/covid ***** The attached pdf is from an organization called BeingwellCA. It was formed in honor of a Scout from our district who we lost to suicide in 2013. Their mission is to raise funds to provide mental health counselors in schools. Please read the letter and if you feel led, pass it on to your Scouting Families and friends, to show support for this great cause. BSA Support Letter ***** Make sure that...