The Columbia-Montour Council is made up of many local Cub Scout Packs, Boy Scout Troops, Venturing Crews, Varsity Teams, and Explorer Posts. Each unit is sponsored by a community-based organization that receives a national charter to use the Scouting program as a part of their own youth program.
Unit Search Tool - Find a unit in the Columbia-Montour Council!
Unit Web Sites - Your Unit's Home on the Internet
Do you want to improve communication between your unit's leaders, parents and scouts? Have you been thinking about creating a web site for your unit but have been daunted by the task, the cost, or the resources required? Well, look no further because Unit Web Sites are here to help address your needs.
The Unit Web Site feature on the Columbia-Montour Council web site gives your unit a home on the Internet. Your Unit Home Page provides the following features...
- Editable home page content
- Unit news and headlines
- An events calendar
- A group email tool
- A place to store files to share with unit members
- Security features to protect members and information
- Other features to be added in the future
Click the links below to learn more about how your Unit can start using these features today.
Frequently Asked Questions
Getting started is easy. The key to getting started lies with your unit's Primary Leader. Here are the steps...
- The Council must have your Primary Unit Leader's email address stored in our database.
Check your unit's page or contact the council webmaster to make sure we have it.
Once you are on your unit's home page, click the Leadership item on the menu. If the unit leader shown is not correct, or we don't have your unit leader's email address, please forward a note to the council webmaster with the appropriate details.
- The Primary Unit Leader must have a MyCouncil membership on this web site.
The unit leader's MyCouncil membership must use the same email address as the one stored in our database (refer back to Step 1)
- Once Steps 1 and 2 have been completed your unit leader may sign-in to the website and start managing your unit's home page features.
The unit leader may also delegate the management of your unit's home page to other members if that works better in your situation. To delegate management, step's 1 and 2 must still be completed and the Primary Unit Leader must still sign-in to delegate management privileges'.
Who is my Primary Unit Leader?
The Primary Unit Leader is the adult who is the official registered leader for your unit.
If your unit is a...
- Cub Scout Pack - It's your Cubmaster
- Boy Scout Troop - It's your Scoutmaster
- Venturing Crew - It's your Crew Advisor
- Explorer Post - It's your Post Advisor
To put it simply - It's free!
There are no costs to your unit associated with using the Unit Web Site basic features. The Council is happy to provide this service to units to help them support their program and to strengthen communication amongst the unit's membership.
Yes - your unit's Web Site is secure to the extent that you use the built-in security features. The Primary Unit Leader (or a delegated member) enforces the security features on your unit's Home Page.
By using the Unit Home Page features on this web site, you agree that your unit is responsible for managing its own security settings which control how people access your unit's information.
Private Content
When you create content and events on your Unit Web Site items can be marked to be private, which means that only Friends of the unit may view it.
It is up to your unit to enforce its own security - Make sure you do not post content that would violate Youth Protection standards or release private information to the public.
Unit Friends
The Unit Friends feature is the mechanism to allow people to access the private content on your unit's Web Site. When approving Friends be sure you know who the applicants are and that you trust them with the information you are posting.
See: What are Unit Friends?
Unit Friends are MyCouncil members who have, in general, been authorized to see private unit page content and are on the unit's mailing list. Think of Friends as a mini membership system for your unit's web site.
What is Private Content?
Certain content on your unit's Web Site, can be made private - Any content marked as private can only be seen by Friends of the unit. Content not marked as private can be seen by anyone.
How are Friends created?
Once the Primary Unit Leader has your unit's Web Site set up, Parents, Committee Members, Scouts, etc, may apply to be Unit Friends.
To apply to be a Unit Friend a person must first have a MyCouncil membership and be signed in.
The person then visits the unit's Home Page and clicks the Friends menu item. Once on the Friends area, a person may then submit a Friends Request to the unit. The unit leader or designated moderator receives the Friends Request and may then sign-in to Approve or Deny the request. Once approved, the person is then a Friend of the unit. The unit may also Block members from submitting further requests.
By National BSA Standards, a Council must be in complete control of any information posted on its web site.
So the short answer to this question is - everything. However, there are typically only several approved people on the Council's web site team, called Site Administrators, that have the authority to control and see the private information on your unit's Home Page.
The Council may also curtail or deny a unit the privilege of using any, or all, the unit Home Page features on this web site for any reason whatsoever. Typical reasons may be, but not limited to, not complying with Council, National or Youth Protection standards, posting inappropriate material, or in any other way abusing its privileges' to host a unit Home Page on this web site.
By using the Unit Web Site features on this web site, you understand and accept that Site Administrators may see any and all content on your unit's Web Sites and may control and revoke your unit's web site privileges' at any time. You also agree that your unit is responsible for managing its own security settings which control how people access your unit's information.
Setting up your unit meetings is a great way to let scouts, parents and prospective members more easily find where your unit meets. You can even create maps that can be viewed by your unit members and/or the public. Setting up your unit meetings is easy to do but must be done by someone in your unit with the proper authorization. Your unit's primary leader or someone authorized by them can create maps for your meetings. Just follow these few simple steps...
1 - To start - your primary unit leader must activate your unit's web site.
2 - Browse to your unit page and click the link on the right labeled "Regular Meetings"
3 - If you have the appropriate permissions there will be a link in the upper right corner of the page labeled "[Manage]". Click that link to manage your meetings.
4 - On the list of meetings, click the "edit" link to edit and existing meeting or the "add" link to add a new meeting.
Your primary unit meeting is pre-defined and cannot be deleted. It can always be viewed by the public. Any additional meetings you add can be viewed by the public or can be set to private, which only allows Unit Friends to see the meeting. Just use the Public/Private settings.
5 - Enter the general meeting information on the General tab and use the tools on the Location tab to create a map.
By default, your primary unit meeting will be mapped when web site users do a unit search using the Unit Search Tool. If you do not want your primary unit meeting to show in public search results, uncheck the appropriate box on the Location tab. Only the primary meeting shows in unit search results. No other meetings are mapped.