Scouts do you need a Merit Badge Counselor, click here for the Council list. If a merit badge counselor tells you they are no longer a merit badge counselor, please forward the email to our zone/district commissioner. Periodically this may occur and we are assisting council in updating the site.
Attention adults, would you like to share your passions and skills with scouts, be a Merit Badge Counselor. As a merit badge counselor, your mission is to join fun with learning.
Requirements to become a Merit Badge (M.B.) Counselor:
1. Fill out and submit BSA Adult Application. Use position code 42 (no fee required). Adult Application may be found at https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/524-501.pdf
2. Fill out and submit BSA Merit Badge Counselor Application, found at https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/34405.pdf
3. Complete M.B. Counselor Position-Specific training. It is online, easily accessible at any time and takes approximately 33 minutes. Go to https://my.scouting.org/. Log in or create an account. Scroll down and click on the BSA LEARN CENTER to access Position Specific Training. Click on ScoutsBSA. Click on M.B. Counselor/. Take Training: “Before First Meeting (SCO_472, SCO_474, SCO_486) and Position Trained” (SCO_471).
4. Be current in YPT. Go to https://www.scouting.org/training/youth-protection/
5. Adults wishing to counsel Citizenship in Society M.B. must complete the requirements found at https://www.sdicbsa.org/Advancement/Docs/CitizenshipInSocietyCounselorApplication.pdf
6. Submit all forms to SDIC Merit Badge Registrar susan.miller2@scouting.org
7. AB506 requires that volunteers are required to complete child abuse and neglect reporting training (aka mandated reporter training) to undergo LiveScan fingerprinting and a background check. This includes anyone 18 years of age or older who has direct contact with youth for more than 16 hours a month or 32 hours per year.
Step one: Take State Mandated Volunteer Training
Step two: Take a LiveScan Background Check
If a volunteer has less than 16 hours a month contact with youth, they must complete the “Declaration of Exception” .