Inquiry from the Youth Mapping Program to Club Reps

[Andrea Schneider]

Dear Club Reps/Leadership,

If you did not attend Forum #6 on OUSA's Youth Mapping Program, here is the YouTube video recording for it.

This e-mails is intended for club  leadership or people in clubs who really like to reach out to new commers.

In the YMP, any youth organization/educator/youth group, etc., that is applying for an orienteering map to be made for them for teaching purposes, the YMP asks them whether they know and are in contact with their local club. If the answer is no, the YMP provides them with the link to the club closest to them (if within less than 150 miles), and are encouraging them to check out the event schedule and to reach out to the club for more information.

In the future we could add to such communication a person from your club who would like to be an outreach contact, so that we may provide an actual name and an e-mail to be able to reach out more directly and personally, rather than the educator having to first figure out who to approach by going through your club's website.

If interested to have such reference contact for your club, please submit the name, club and contact info to the YMP Committee.

Andrea Schneider

member of OUSA's Youth Mapping Committee

[Andrea Schneider]

Sorry about the broken link (thanks Walter for pointing that out to me)

YMP Committee address:  YMPCom...@orienteeringusa.org

[Andrea Schneider]

It appears one thing may need clarification: The idea with YMP giving out info on club contact person is in absolutely no way intended for the educator to to reach out to you or anyone from the club to go and help with the mapping or with putting on an event at their school or location, absolutely not! 

We do encourage them to check out the event schedule of the club closest to them, unless there is no club within 150 miles, that seems a bit far for any field trip.

With those further away than 150 miles from any club we are quietly hoping that they spread the word to neighboring schools, so that more youths in orienteering-deserts learn to enjoy orienteering, and who knows, maybe even create a small local league or friendly field day competitions between them.

I do state how far the closest club is to them, and that clubs often have a big radius of maps/activity, and I encourage them to check out the schedule of events. But it is so much easier if they can reach out to a person who can answer questions about the event and connect them with someone that will be at their first event, a friendly face they can look for.

Andrea

YMPCom...@orienteeringusa.org

[Andrea Schneider]

Dear OUSA Club Reps/Leadership,

first of all thank you to the 5 clubs who have given the Youth Mapping Program a contact person for the schools and Youths Organizations (YO) to reach out to if they want to come with their youths to one of your events and be able to connect with a friendly face at the event or reach out if they have questions about your events. For future I have now added to our communication from the YMP to the YO requesting a map, information on Permanent Courses near them (as indicated on OUSA's PC map)

Given some feedback we received and also the increased number of requests given the engagement of Navigation Games at educational conferences around the country we in the YMP have 2 additional questions that relate to groups requesting maps that are at the edge or outside YMP's scope.

1. We sometimes get requests from Scouts or other other groups to create maps that include the creation of permanent courses. Please let the YMP know whether you would like to know about the creation of a permanent orienteering course in your area, on a map created by the YMP, and whether you would like to then advise the map requesting organization in the creation of a good permanent course. If the answer is Yes, please submit a contact and a max radius around your club where you care to be notified about.

2. For maps 1 sq km or larger, or even somewhat smaller areas with extensive forest areas we recommend as follows: For maps of larger areas we thus recommend coordinating the map-making and grant requests with your local orienteering club. You may also look for a mapper and negotiate with them directly by either going to Orienteering USA’s List of Mappers, with some of the mappers on this list being also YMP Mappers, and we could also post your inquiry for a mapper with all YMP mappers, including those who are not on the OUSA List of Mappers

We still inform them of the club closest to them, possibly recommend a mapper from the OUSA List of Mappers, but have not made an effort to actually introduce/connect them to a mapper on that list.

The question to you is whether your club wants to be put in contact with such map requesting organization, especially if there is a chance for such collaboration, opening up a possible venue and event partnership for your club. If the answer is Yes, please submit a contact and a max radius around your club where you care to be notified about an organization looking for an area larger than 1 sq km being mapped. Or if you want to be notified about smaller area maps, too.

Just to emphasize again, connecting a YO seeking to have a map created through the YMP to someone in your club is in absolutely no way intended for them reaching out to you to help in the map-making process of a map that is within the scope of the YMP and is drawn by a YMP mapper.

Please either send info to 1. and 2. to ympcom...@orienteeringusa.org or reply to this message.

Thanks for your consideration,

Andrea Schneider

member of the YMP committee

On Thursday, May 23, 2024 at 7:50:09 PM UTC-5 Andrea Schneider wrote:

It appears one thing may need clarification: The idea with YMP giving out info on club contact person is in absolutely no way intended for the educator to to reach out to you or anyone from the club to go and help with the mapping or with putting on an event at their school or location, absolutely not! 

We do encourage them to check out the event schedule of the club closest to them, unless there is no club within 150 miles, that seems a bit far for any field trip.

With those further away than 150 miles from any club we are quietly hoping that they spread the word to neighboring schools, so that more youths in orienteering-deserts learn to enjoy orienteering, and who knows, maybe even create a small local league or friendly field day competitions between them.

I do state how far the closest club is to them, and that clubs often have a big radius of maps/activity, and I encourage them to check out the schedule of events. But it is so much easier if they can reach out to a person who can answer questions about the event and connect them with someone that will be at their first event, a friendly face they can look for.

Andrea

YMPCommittee@orienteeringusa.org

On Wed, May 22, 2024, 10:28 Andrea Schneider <andrea.schneider@orienteeringusa.org> wrote:

Sorry about the broken link (thanks Walter for pointing that out to me)

YMP Committee address:  YMPCommittee@orienteeringusa.org

[Andrea Schneider]

Jim,

I had to look for it, too, as I only had it stored as link in our communication templates, without actually knowing where it is.

But here it is on the https://orienteeringusa.org/resources/club-development/, if you scroll down.

You will also find the point of contact for OUSA mapping, Jon Campbell, who is also a member of the YMP committee. I remember him updating the OUSA mappers not that long ago.

Andrea

On Sat, Apr 5, 2025 at 3:47 PM Jim Wolfe <jlw...@atlanticbb.net> wrote:

Andrea,

Following is an excerpt from your recent email.  I have tried to find
this "List of Mappers" on Orienteering USA's website; but I have not
been successful.  Please provide a URL for this list.

Jim

[Andrea Schneider]

Resurrecting a post and updating. Wrote initial outreach e-mail to club leadership/membership after Forums #4 and #6, and now reaching out with the same question following Forum #25:  Orienteering Workshops at Educator Conferences. Barb and Navigation Games are now also presenting at conferences for Outdoor education and camps organizations about orienteering.

For the 7 clubs who have responded with a person to be put in our database to use to create connections between organizations who are getting an orienteering map (Sprint map scale 1:4,000 or larger) through the OUSA Youth Mapping Program (YMP), some successful connections have been made. With outdoor camps now starting to request YMP maps there is the additional chance for clubs to be able to interact and gain participants for events.

Clubs we have a contact person listed for (based on last outreach): COK, GPHXO, HVO, MNOC, NAVX, NEOC, NG, OCIN, UNO, WCOC, WPOC (4 have YMP committee members as their contact)

Looking forward to having more contacts listed for reach out, and as mentioned below, absolutely NOT intended for anyone in the club helping them with the creation of a YMP map for training on their school or camp grounds. It is really just for them to be able to reach out if they plan to come to a club event and want to have someone to connect with, possibly after a long drive.

Andrea Schneider

committee member Youth Mapping 

If interested to have such reference contact for your club, please submit the name, club and contact info to the  YMPCom...@orienteeringusa.org .

It appears one thing may need clarification: The idea with YMP giving out info on club contact person is in absolutely no way intended for the educator to to reach out to you or anyone from the club to go and help with the mapping or with putting on an event at their school or location, absolutely not!
We do encourage them to check out the event schedule of the club closest to them, unless there is no club within 150 miles, that seems a bit far for any field trip.
With those further away than 150 miles from any club we are quietly hoping that they spread the word to neighboring schools, so that more youths in orienteering-deserts learn to enjoy orienteering, and who knows, maybe even create a small local league or friendly field day competitions between them.

I do state how far the closest club is to them, and that clubs often have a big radius of maps/activity, and I encourage them to check out the schedule of events. But it is so much easier if they can reach out to a person who can answer questions about the event and connect them with someone that will be at their first event, a friendly face they can look for. I also point them to the map of permanent courses in their area.