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Girl Scouts of the USA embarked upon a nationwide
council realignment to take the 314 councils to approximately 104. Locally we
engaged in discussions with neighboring councils in South Carolina about realigning
our boundaries to form a new Girl Scout council. These actions are part of a national
strategy to create high-capacity councils that are able to implement most effectively
all aspects of GSUSA’s Core Business Strategy and to deliver on the promise of
our mission: to build girls of courage, confidence, and character, who make the word
a better place.
National demographers developed a proposed map. Their recommendations regarding South
Carolina matched our local thinking, so we became “early adopters” –
one of the first 10 groups of councils nationally to realign. The plan to form two new
councils in South Carolina included:
Girl Scouts of South Carolina – Mountains to Midlands, formed from three legacy councils:
Girl Scout Council of the Congaree Area (Columbia, SC)
Girl Scouts of the Old 96 Council (Mauldin, SC)
Girl Scouts of the Piedmont Area Council (Spartanburg, SC); and
Girl Scouts of Eastern South Carolina, formed from two legacy councils:
Girl Scouts of Carolina Low Country
Girl Scout Council of the Pee Dee Area.
Mountains to Midlands formed a Council Realignment Committee (CRC) comprised of 6
representatives from each of our three legacy councils. This group served as an
interim Board of Directors until the new organization was born on May 1, 2007.
For more information about GSUSA’s Core Business Strategy and the nationwide
council jurisdictional realignment, please go to
www.girlscouts.org.
Penny Cooper, President/CEO of Mountains to Midlands during the realignment transition
phase, offered details about the nationwide council realignment and our local goals in her
guest column,
published in the Greenville News on 9.7.07.
Kim Hutzell was named the President/CEO of Mountains to Midlands and assumed her role on
March 17, 2008, after a nationwide search was conducted by the Board of Directors. See our
press release
containing biographical information.
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