I am looking to form a new unit in a rural area of Oregon. The closest squadron is in WA wing about 30-40 miles away. The closest OR wing squadron is about three hours away. There used to be a unit in Pendleton but it has been gone for quite some time. I have ordered pamplets and posters and have been placing them in places that I thought would draw interest or receive the highest amount of traffic but I have not received any interest. I also posted an add online at several different websites and still nothing. I know that there are people around here that would be interested but I can't seem to find them. I think one of the biggest killers is the annual dues but that is a workable issue if someone were to ask me about it. Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions... Thanks in advance.
From what I can tell, just about any town with at least 10,000 people could support at least a small cadet squadron though finding enough adults to make a really viable senior program is going to be iffy.
What demo studies have you done to support the interest or mission need for another unit in your wing?
Odds are if a unit folded it was because of non-interest.
30-40 highway miles in my wing is not uncommon for people to travel your location may overlap the AOR of and existing
Unit and cannibalize them for the sake of location.
I'm not saying more is bad, but these things do not exist in a vacuum.
Well the mission need for a squadron in this area is that east of Mt Hood, there is only one squadron (in Bend.) I believe the squadron in Pendleton disappeared because the members probably felt like outcasts, JMO though. There are lots of potential cadets in this area which I believe would be well served with a CAP program. I have spoken with the wing commander and he is all in favor of establishing a unit on the east side of the state however it will have to form strong and stay strong. Considering the type of people that live in this area, I believe that a CAP squadron would be well received but I am having problems getting the word out. I was holding off on talking to the military recruiters in this area but I think that is the direction that I will need to go. I was just looking for other ideas or options that I had not thought of.
A HUGE problem that is all across CAP is -apathy- Most CAP units are just content to merely exist. They make no effort to reach out to the community, publicize itself or make themselve available. Things like the Boy Scouts, Girls Scouts and the VFW do. CAP'ers just sit around and lament that they wish folks would joing or wish they could get donations. BUT... they don't do anything about!!! That may be a reason why the old Pendleton squadron folded.
I'm currently dealing with that in my squadron here in Tennessee. I'm essentially "forcing" the membership to get involved with the community. Putting the color guard in local parades and presenting the colors at the home H.S. football games. Setting up a booth at local festivals and the county fair. Reaching out and talking to the county Emergency Management Agency and the Co. Rescue Squad. Giving oral presentations to community groups. Stuff like that! Some of the challenges you face when you start a unit.
LTC Ed Flick up in Pennsylvania Wing did that with the Somerset Comp. Sqdn. No matter where you go in Somerset County, CAP is a household name! He has them involved in everything in Somerset County and a week doesn't go by that CAP isn't in the local papers.
Quote from: GoneAway on January 22, 2012, 10:13:56 AM
I am looking to form a new unit in a rural area of Oregon. The closest squadron is in WA wing about 30-40 miles away. The closest OR wing squadron is about three hours away. There used to be a unit ...
What Unit do you belong to now?
Sometimes creating a new Unit may be convient for you initially it will become stressful. Why not become a Flight from the nearest Squadron and see how recruiting works out.
Quote from: Eclipse on January 22, 2012, 02:40:47 PM
What demo studies have you done to support the interest or mission need for another unit in your wing?
Odds are if a unit folded it was because of non-interest.
30-40 highway miles in my wing is not uncommon for people to travel your location may overlap the AOR of and existing
Unit and cannibalize them for the sake of location.
I'm not saying more is bad, but these things do not exist in a vacuum.
We have one unit 13 miles away (on a military base (as we are)) to the west & and the next closest unit 38 miles to the north (in a civilian community operating out of a teen center). CAP squadrons are suppose to be the community level operation for CAP. Having a member drive 20+ miles isn't my idea of a community based program; HOWEVER, my guess is the "hook" for getting some to drive to us and the other unit is being on a military base.
Frankly, I think CAP requires too much mumbo jumbo paperwork for what is really being accomplished. Too many mandates and right from the start the new unit is over whelmed with paperwork requirements.
For the individual wanting to start a unit, ideally you will find someone in that wing that has been in CAP for awhile and can help you. You are going to need at least 3 adults in order to form a unit. Also you need to be looking at where you can get space to hold meeting on a weekly basis. Personally, I think an airport is good BUT many have found that schools and churches are good places. HOWEVER, with schools there may be a cost with using the facilities. Another option might be if your wing has an agreement with the National Guard to use their armories. You should just be doing press releases, meeting the local government officials, send flyers to schools, get other military civic groups involved. I'm not so sure that trying to recruit boy scouts & girl scouts is really worth the effort (we have found it isn't worth the effort).
Here's with CAP has for information on starting a new unit:
http://capnhq.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/236/~/starting-a-cap-unit (http://capnhq.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/236/~/starting-a-cap-unit)
Good luck in your efforts :clap:
RM
Quote from: cpyahoo on January 22, 2012, 04:15:30 PM
A HUGE problem that is all across CAP is -apathy- Most CAP units are just content to merely exist. They make no effort to reach out to the community, publicize itself or make themselve available. Things like the Boy Scouts, Girls Scouts and the VFW do. CAP'ers just sit around and lament that they wish folks would joing or wish they could get donations. BUT... they don't do anything about!!! That may be a reason why the old Pendleton squadron folded.
I'm currently dealing with that in my squadron here in Tennessee. I'm essentially "forcing" the membership to get involved with the community. Putting the color guard in local parades and presenting the colors at the home H.S. football games. Setting up a booth at local festivals and the county fair. Reaching out and talking to the county Emergency Management Agency and the Co. Rescue Squad. Giving oral presentations to community groups. Stuff like that! Some of the challenges you face when you start a unit.
LTC Ed Flick up in Pennsylvania Wing did that with the Somerset Comp. Sqdn. No matter where you go in Somerset County, CAP is a household name! He has them involved in everything in Somerset County and a week doesn't go by that CAP isn't in the local papers.
I think one has to be careful as to not over commit to community involvement. I've found in our unit that we commit pretty much to the same organizations every year. I also think one can "over recruit" especially on the senior member side. Cadet wise surely with the dismal retention rate you always have to be recruiting in order to maintain a viable cadet program. On the adult side, you have to recruit people that have some "usable" skills and "good" attitude" for your organization. Surely many of us have experienced members that have a good attitude but have very poor skills/educational background which limits there contribution. Likely there's been highly skilled, multi rating pilots that only joined for the potential for 'free' flying and have NO interest in any other unit function. :( >:( Both are challenges to keeping an organization functional. IF you get too many of each in your organization, you won't survive. :(
RM
I belong to a unit in Portland which is about three hours away. I have nothing against WA wing but I wanted to work with the OR wing as it was where I served as a cadet for the most part (I was also in the Nat. Cap. wing). As a member for roughly 20 years, I have a good idea of what is required to get a unit going. My issue is that I am not much of a Public Affairs type and so I was looking for some helpful tips from the experts in the field. I would not mind forming a flight but it might be a logistical nightmare to have the unit from Portland send advisors this way to help us get started. I have four adults plus myself who are working to get this going, one of which is a former CAP officer. The unit that is 30-40 miles away is in a different wing and I fear the politics of asking them to send advisors. Thank you to everyone for your assistance and keep the ideas coming. I'm sure that I will be needing more help as this keeps rolling.
Could look into the school program using our AE program as a way to get your foot in the door. Core values, customs and courtesies, management and leadership training are good catch phrases for a teacher or school official.
Try American Legion and VFW posts to recruit experienced military. But beware of those reliving their brown-shoe days. May end up spending more time undoing their good intentions. There were no restrictions on hazing back then.
Back when, we hooked up with the Boy Scouts back when we did dual chartering. The Scouts did surveys in the schools asking for hobbies and career interests. From those databases came mailing labels they could filter for ES, AE, police, fireman and military interests. They sent out the mailing and we set up the "First Nighter" to give our pitch. Had about 30 guests show up. Recruited about 12. Downside is you have two sets of dues. Scouts also require a chain of command. Scouts also have their own upper level meetings and activities to support in addition to your own. I abandoned the process after two years. The recruiting was nice, but the dual everything else was too much.
Have you though about doing a "Recruiting Open House". Do a search here on "pipeline recruiting" and "open house". There's a lot of good ideas.
I would handle it this way: Find your venue. Invite every VIP (or semi-VIP), LEO, Firefighter, Scout leader, etc. Go to all the middle schools with a table, banner and some pamphlets and loudly advertise that this is a new unit starting up. Call up a local radio station and a few days before the event, see if you can get an interview.
For the Open House itself, I'd invite members from Wing and from the nearest squadron to be there. That way people can see it's part of a larger organization and not just something local.
It seems to me that in this case, if you focus all your activity toward one event, you'll have better results.
Quote from: RADIOMAN015 on January 22, 2012, 05:47:11 PMYou are going to need at least 3 adults in order to form a unit.
Yes, 3 adults are required, however you must have the respective charter-minimum number of members, either new applications in hand, or CAPF 2As for the transfers, before NHQ will process a new charter request, and that assumes that the rest of the chain approves of the idea.
CAPR 20-3:
a. A statement that a sufficient number of individuals are interested to warrant organization of a squadron. NOTE:CAPFs 12, Application for Senior Membership in CAP, and CAPF 15, Application for Cadet Membership in CAP, for new members and CAPFs 2a, Request for and Approval of Personnel Actions, for incoming transfers should be submitted with the CAPF 27 requesting the charter.
Squadrons must have a minimum of 15 members, 3 of whom must be senior members.
Flights must have a minimum of eight members, three of whom must be senior members.Your first step, really, is to discuss the idea with your Unit / Group & Wing Commander to determine if this is even a possibility. The unit CC so there
are not hard feelings about jumping ship and / or potentially moving members, the Group CC for his approval (if you have them), and the Wing CC as his signature will ultimately need to be on the docs. Some Region CC's may also want more than a passing interest in new units as well.
There's not much point expending a lot of effort only to find that there are other plans already on the table, or that Wing simply has no intention of expanding.
With that said, coming to the table with a fully-baked plan is 1/2 the battle. That's why I asked about the studies - showing you've found a potential location, have looked at the area to see there are enough schools, etc., to support cadet recruiting, with the same going for adult members, and that
you have at least a couple of experienced squadron staffers who will either transfer to the new unit or offer hands-on assistance temporarily the first year, etc.