Realignment News - Click here for a message from Executive Director Cheryl Legette and President Debra Harden

Georgia Girl Scouts Announce Merger Plans

Better opportunities for all girls is goal of the change

Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia, Inc. will usher in a new era of Girl Scouting in Georgia on May 1, 2008. Six Georgia Girl Scout councils will merge to create this brand new council. The corporate headquarters for the new council will be in Macon.

Girl Scouts nationwide is embarking on an exciting transformation to better meet the needs of girls in today’s fast-changing world. The Girl Scout organization has devoted more than two years to a comprehensive review of its business with a team of council CEOs, volunteers, GSUSA staff and girls nationwide. Through that extensive review the organization determined that realigning councils would provide a more consistent, high-quality Girl Scout experience for all girls.

“Our commitment to service for girls remains our priority. We will continue to have service centers where there are now council offices,” said Cheryl Legette, CEO of Girl Scouts of Northeast Georgia and Tom Feldman, President of the Girl Scout Council of Savannah, co-chairs of the committee planning the Georgia merger. “Our volunteers and staff are working together to build a new council that reaches out to more girls and uses our resources more effectively to provide exciting opportunities that will have a positive impact on their lives.” The Girl Scouts mission is to build girls of courage, confidence and character, who make the world a better place.

Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. was founded by Juliette Gordon Low in Savannah, Georgia in 1912. For more than 95 years, Girl Scouts has been providing character development and leadership training for girls ages 5-17. Georgia Girl Scouts honored Low’s October birthday with the announcement of their merger. The new council comprises the following current Girl Scout Councils: Girl Scouts, Central Savannah River Council (Augusta); Girl Scouts of Concharty Council (Columbus); Girl Scouts of Middle Georgia (Macon); Girl Scouts of Northeast Georgia (Athens); The Girl Scout Council of Savannah, Georgia; and Girl Scouts of Southwest Georgia (Albany). Boundaries include most of Georgia except metro Atlanta and the northwest quadrant of the state. The council will also include several neighboring counties in South Carolina and one in Alabama.

The new council will serve approximately 30,000 girls in 120 counties. To find out more, or to follow the progress of the new council’s development, visit the Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia site!

Frequently Asked Questions:

Are the properties going to be shared in a way? Or will girls that live one hundred miles or more away in Macon have first choice over the girls that live five miles away in Hall county?
Of all the realignment issues, we anticipate that property will be the most difficult to address. For this reason, that particular issue has been taken off the table for now, so that we can focus on the most pressing issues, such as service delivery, organizational structure and service delivery. We don’t have any definitive answers about what will happen with Lanier or how it will be used. However, so that we don’t leave your question completely unaddressed, please know that we will work very hard to ensure that that ALL girls have access to properties in close proximity – through shared use or some selection system that ensures equity. Camping is a highly valued aspect of the Girl Scout tradition, and is shared as such by EVERY member of the realignment team – so the issue, although temporarily set aside, will not be ignored.

What really doesn't make sense to me is that we were being told that the realignment would help to redistribute scarce resources. I am struggling to see how this is a good thing for us. Oh, and we have to drive THROUGH their council to get to the other side of ours. Don't we have better ways to use our precious staff people than to have them constantly on the road?

This whole process will require all of us to put on our WE hat, because it’s supposed to benefit ALL of Georgia’s Girl Scouts. Therefore, while it may not seem to immediately benefit our council – the changes will benefit all of us over the long haul. The intent of the realignment is to address increasing and projected problems of inadequate and uneven funding, declining membership and inconsistent program access and opportunity for girls throughout the state. As for combining all of Georgia, none of the maps ever presented offered that option. The Atlanta Metro area is viewed as so distinctly different from the rest of the state that demographers and many others saw including them in the larger group as an incompatible match. You are right, most of Georgia’s resources are concentrated in the NW region of the state and it is for precisely this reason that the rest of the state is combined – to create balance.

It is my belief that the realignment will strengthen Girl Scouting throughout the state because it will allow us – all of us - to maximize our resources. It will also create an opportunity for more partnerships between the two councils (metro and greater Georgia) in terms of shared marketing, service delivery and funding.

Finally, I do not envision staff being constantly on the road – no more so than currently anyway. Our new structure will not be anything like it what exists today – it can’t be with 130+ counties to serve. You may ask how will the structure look? That’s where volunteers like you come in. We will all work together to develop a new structure that is high-tech, yet high touch. It will be a practical and efficient system with the girls’ needs at the center. We can only design that with your help.

What happens to troop numbers when we realign. We know that we can’t have multiple troops with the same number. Can you help us?
A best practice that has proved effective in past mergers is for each council to pick a different single digit number and add that number to the beginning of all existing troop numbers. That way, everyone experiences the same slight change. For example, Troop # 212 might become #1212 for one council, #2212 for another council and #3212 for yet another council.

How will realignment effect the United Way?
We will continue to have a local presence within each county and have the expectation to not change our affiliation with the United Way.

How is this going to help girls?
The goal of nation-wide realignment is to strengthen our ability to deliver on our promise to girls. We want a girl to have the fullest possible array of opportunities during her Girl Scout experience. When we look at the cost per girl comparison in different size councils, on average, the cost per girl in smaller councils is higher than the cost per girl in councils that serve larger numbers of girls. These larger councils—whether in compact urban areas or vast geographic areas—are able to spread their administrative costs further, ultimately making more resources available for girl program.

While we recognize that quality programs exist throughout the country in small and large councils, in rural as well as urban and suburban councils, the scope of program options available to girls will be increased in the realigned council structure. Girls will have greater opportunities to see themselves within a larger perspective as they interact regularly with a larger network of girls. Resources and opportunities for volunteers will also be enhanced, which will ultimately enable us to provide better program and serve even more girls.

Still have questions? Ask here!