Girl Scouts merging councils nationwide

[ Originally published on: Monday, January 21, 2008 ]

LEEDS -- The three councils that oversee Girl Scouts in central and western Massachusetts have merged. The group's new chief executive officer says changes are afoot for the unified council that now serves 17,000 girls. 'At the individual level, girls probably won't feel much difference with this merger at first,' said Patricia Hallberg, who took the helm as CEO of the newly formed Girl Scouts of Central and Western Mass Inc. on Jan. 1.

'That's a good thing. Going forward, we'll develop more programs for girls and create community partnerships for expanded program offerings.'

On Jan. 1, the Montachusett Council in Worcester, Pioneer Valley Council in East Longmeadow, and the Western Massachusetts Council in Leeds joined forces. The new council includes 186 towns and cities and geographically incorporates all of central and western Massachusetts from the New York border in the west, north to the Vermont and New Hampshire state lines, south to Connecticut and Rhode Island, and east to Interstate 495 from Milford to Pepperell.

Services will continue to be provided to volunteers and girls at the current service centers in Worcester, East Longmeadow and Leeds. A store in Pittsfield and seven camp properties will remain open. Any changes to those locations will be a decision for the council's new board, which is scheduled to meet for the first time later this month.

Hallberg said it doesn't make sense to consolidate the offices because of the amount of territory the council now covers. 'I'll evaluate what we have and if it's in the right place. Ultimately, the board and staff have to decide what's the best way,' she said. 'I don't believe closing offices is the best.'

Wider goals

The local merger is part of a national trend by the Girl Scouts of the USA to unify many of its smaller councils throughout the country. The nonprofit organization has set a goal of managing about 100 councils nationwide, down from more than 300 today. Hallberg said economics played little role in this area's merger, which is being driven by the desire to develop new programs and strengthen existing ones. 'We don't want to get away from the local feel of the council, but bringing together smaller councils will give us more resources to build the best programming and get it out to the smaller areas,' Hallberg said.

A new leader

Hallberg, the mother of four daughters, formerly ran outreach programs for the National Inventors Hall of Fame in northeastern Ohio. One of the summer camps she started for the Inventors Hall of Fame, through a subsidiary called Invent Now Kids Inc., has grown from a small regional camp into a national program that attracts 60,000 young people in 48 states.

While she's not an educator by training, Hallberg comes from an education programming background. And she said she loves creating programming that focuses on science and engineering.

'I'm passionate about enrichment education,' she said. 'That's a 24/7 experience for everyone. I want to bring that energy and programming to the Girl Scouts here.' One of the areas she hopes to expand is offerings in leadership for girls.

Hallberg believes that while leadership is innate in many people, enhanced programs can help girls build on such traits. 'To build skills, we need to offer opportunities to as many girls as possible to help them understand their leadership potential,' she said. This can have a long-term economic impact on the region, she maintains.

Hallberg believes that as children develop leadership skills and a commitment to their communities, they will come back after college and help build the region in which they grew up.

 

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