Hello Sage, One of the concerns that was raised is that the ASF, by both providing funds, and picking one project might be "picking winners". Our neutrality has been very important to our success in attracting and supporting open source projects. It is at least possible that more projects than we could provide funding for might be interested in mentoring an Outreachy intern and benefiting from their efforts. This would raise the question of how to remain neutral while still providing funds for an Outreachy internship.
One approach to solving this problem which currently seems to be favored, is to not fund Outreachy internships. We could ask a sponsor to do this on our behalf. But, if we can't find a sponsor to donate to Outreachy, that could mean that we cannot do Outreachy internships. Companies which donate to the ASF may not necessary be willing to donate to Outreachy because of criteria unrelated to the purpose of the money. So here comes my first question: If we have too many potential projects, would it be possible to ask Outreachy to do the picking based on your criteria? If yes, what would your criteria be? Depending on what those criteria are, this could potentially be a way to help us preserve our neutrality. Direct impact on our diversity statistics can't be our goal in participating in Outreachy; we're too big for that. Instead, one of the hopes that has been expressed with respect to hosting an Outreachy intern is that we'll be able to follow their progress and learn from the problems they encounter, so that we can figure out what's keeping people out of our communities and tackle those underlying problems. That knowledge will have to be transferable across our projects. So here comes my second question, Sage: From your e-mail, this seems like a reasonable approach, but I'd love to hear you address this specifically. Have you seen other communities do this successfully? Can you put us in contact with them to learn from their experiences? Thank you for coming to our list to answer questions. I very much appreciate your time. Best Regards, Myrle Krantz On Sat, Jun 22, 2019 at 8:23 PM [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi folks, > > I'm Sage Sharp, an Outreachy organizer. I'm happy to answer questions > people have about our program. > > I'm trying to read up on several email threads, so I may not have all the > information about what the ASF is proposing. From what I understand, ASF is > considering being an Outreachy sponsor. It looks like the proposal is to > have six interns working on various ASF member projects. [1] > > Please note that Outreachy projects don't have to be coding projects. They > could be projects related to design, user experience, translation, and more. > > The question then posed was: > > > > How does this, fundamentally, differ from the ASF simply hiring > > > interns from under-represented populations and having them work > > > on Whimsy (or whatever)? This is basically what we are doing, > > > just using Outreachy as a sort of main contractor to do so. > > As to your question, Outreachy is a completely separate internship > program. The Outreachy interns are independent contractors under > Outreachy's fiscal sponsor, the Software Freedom Conservancy. They would > not be ASF employees or contactors. ASF would be providing a tax-deductible > donation to Software Freedom Conservancy to cover the $5,500 intern > stipend, $500 travel stipend, and a $500 accounting fee for each intern > working on an ASF project. > > One of the benefits of participating in Outreachy is that your free > software community gets exposed to people from marginalized groups in tech. > Every internship round, 800 to 1,000 people have their Outreachy initial > application approved. The contribution period allows applicants to make > solid contributions to your project. Even if you only select one intern, > you have the chance to introduce your project to many applicants who may > have never heard of it before. > > Even submitting a project to the Outreachy website may help mentors > understand some of the issues newcomers face. The website tries to > eliminate common barriers that newcomers face like not understanding what > IRC is, not being able to find a mentor to contact, not being able to find > a newcomer friendly issue to work on. Mentors have reported that even the > act of signing up has helped them see places where their project > documentation needs improving. > > Outreachy also provides interns a structure that is lacking in many > contract positions. I've identified major pain points that happen during > the internship and developed a system for removing those issues. The > structure consists of: feedback check-ins, a chance for interns to connect > with each other, and support for finding a job in free software after the > internship. > > *Feedback and check-ins*: We have three points during the internship where > mentors and interns independently give feedback on each other. The > Outreachy organizers look over that feedback and make sure the internship > is progressing smoothly. If needed, we facilitate conversations between the > mentors and interns. > > *Connecting interns*: We also have a private chat server where Outreachy > interns can connect to each other. Being able to connect with other interns > from other projects is essential to not feeling alone. We also have a > series of emails and chat sessions which guide interns through common > problems they experience during the internship. > > For instance, the first chat we do is one where mentors and interns share > what they've been struggling with. This normalizes the fact that everyone > struggles, and that it's okay to reach out for help. People who are interns > for the first time often need this type of reassurance. > > *Support for finding a free software job*: Outreachy also provides a job > opportunities to alums and a travel stipend for attending free software > events. This round, we're looking into providing interviewing workshops and > resume review. > > Outreachy organizers are very experienced at supporting people from > marginalized groups in tech. We've had over 500 interns. If your community > is looking to increase its diversity, Outreachy is a good way to do so. > > Communities like Debian, Ceph, GNOME, OpenStack, the Linux kernel, and > Wikimedia have been participating in Outreachy for years. OpenStack and the > Linux kernel saw a marked increase around in the number of women > participants when they started participating in Outreachy. You can see some > of the communities that have participated before by looking at our past > round page: > > https://www.outreachy.org/past-projects/ > > Let me know what other questions you have! > > Sage Sharp > Outreachy Organizer > > [1] > https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/a02217bcc050fe713d33fe73fa14503c173db92a1e1a6c0b174a338c@%3Cdev.diversity.apache.org%3E > > On 2019/06/21 21:18:21, Ross Gardler <[email protected]> > wrote: > > A colleague at day job is an Outreachy organizer. My understanding was > that she had joined the diversity list for this reason. Let me see if they > are having issues or are simply waiting for a moment at which they can be > productive > > > > ________________________________ > > From: Sam Ruby <[email protected]> > > Sent: Friday, June 21, 2019 12:06 PM > > To: [email protected] > > Subject: Re: Representational intern experience > > > > On Fri, Jun 21, 2019 at 1:56 PM Jim Jagielski <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > And finally: > > > How does this, fundamentally, differ from the ASF simply hiring > > > interns from under-represented populations and having them work > > > on Whimsy (or whatever)? This is basically what we are doing, > > > just using Outreachy as a sort of main contractor to do so. > > > > I just used the Contact Outreachy form[1] to send the following request: > > > > - - - > > > > The Apache Software Foundation is considering becoming a sponsor > > and/or volunteering a number of mentors. During the discussion, the > > following question was raised: > > > > "How does this, fundamentally, differ from the ASF simply hiring > > interns from under-represented populations and having them work > > on Whimsy (or whatever)? This is basically what we are doing, > > just using Outreachy as a sort of main contractor to do so." > > > > This is on the public [email protected] mailing list: > > > > > https://nam06.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flists.apache.org%2Fthread.html%2Fb5af718fcb8d75a98fbd9ff378f0236050cd80ffb4d4f314d87106b3%40%253Cdev.diversity.apache.org%253E&data=02%7C01%7CRoss.Gardler%40microsoft.com%7C85ec81e4d744485a9e0608d6f67b9104%7C72f988bf86f141af91ab2d7cd011db47%7C1%7C0%7C636967407913535319&sdata=eF1QUuBiyEhBHKoRW6n0cfsJh3UeDK5fUxNTqYPvH0Y%3D&reserved=0 > > > > Would it be possible for an Outreachy Organizer to join this list and > > answer a few questions people might have? > > > > - Sam Ruby > > > > - - - > > > > - Sam Ruby > > > > [1] > https://nam06.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.outreachy.org%2Fcontact%2Forganizers%2F&data=02%7C01%7CRoss.Gardler%40microsoft.com%7C85ec81e4d744485a9e0608d6f67b9104%7C72f988bf86f141af91ab2d7cd011db47%7C1%7C0%7C636967407913535319&sdata=sgBfBRjyM%2BFYVBmQyMIUZyV7OfwtVRmJcJRAiMaA3YI%3D&reserved=0 > > >
