Announcing Cub Scout Family Den Pilot Program

Updated July 8, 2022

As announced at this year’s Program Launch, the New Birth of Freedom Council has been accepted into a national pilot program for Family Dens in Cub Scout units.  The goal of this program is to test solutions to some of the issues that have been common challenges to Family Packs since Family Packs were introduced.  

The pilot is open to all Family Packs in the New Birth of Freedom Council and essentially allows Family Packs to create mixed-gender dens or Family Dens at the Lion, Tiger, Wolf, Bear, and Webelos levels.  Arrow of Light dens are excluded from the pilot and must maintain single-gender dens at this time.  

Packs interested in the program must complete a Pack Memorandum of Understanding and the New Birth of Freedom Council registration form.  The Memorandum of Understanding can be uploaded to the registration form or emailed to christopher.styers@scouting.org.  We encourage all Family Packs to review the program requirements below and to participate in the pilot.  

The pilot requires the following from each participating family pack:

1. Approval from the pack’s chartered partner and pack committee
2. Use of Scoutbook to set up dens
3. A registered adult leader in the pack as the representative to the council for the pilot.  The representative agrees to participate in the Pack Pilot Kick-off Webinar, and if unable to attend the live webinar, to watch the recorded session.  The New Birth of Freedom Council will be offering 2 opportunities to participate in a live webinar on the Program.
   
   1. July 27 at 7:00pm.  Register for the webinar here.  
   2. August 31 at 7:00pm. Register for the webinar here.   
4. Agreement to have a registered adult leader as the den leader for each den
5. Contact the New Birth of Freedom Council with any questions about the pilot
6. Understand that if the pilot is terminated for any reason, the pack agrees to discontinue the program and will no longer provide an option to form family dens.  

If interested please complete the Pack Memorandum of Understanding and submit your pack’s application to the New Birth of Freedom Council by following this link.  

We will also be offering a session for any unit interested in moving from being a boy-only pack to a family pack.  This session will cover all of the basics of what is involved and how to update your unit’s status.  This webinar will be held on August 3 at 7:00pm.  Register here for the Family PACK webinar.