Questions about Outreachy? Ask an organizer!

[Sage Sharp <sh...@otter.technology>]

Hi folks,

I'm Sage Sharp, an Outreachy organizer. I'm here to answer any questions
you have about the Outreachy program.

The one I was specifically asked to answer is this:

"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."

Outreachy is a completely separate internship program. We accept
sponsorship in two ways:

1. Outreachy general sponsors fund the program costs. This covers
organizer's time supporting applicants and interns, answering mentor and
coordinator questions, promoting the program, working on our website,
creating design resources, and more.

2. A sponsor can opt to fund particular communities. For instance, the
Digital Impact Alliance (DIAL) funds humanitarian free software projects
like LibreHealth, Public Labs, or Humanitarian OpenStreet Maps. The
OpenStack Foundation funds interns working on OpenStack.

As I understand it, the ASF hasn't decided which sponsorship model they
want to pursue. The rest of this email assumes the ASF wants pursue
providing sponsorship for specific ASF member projects.

So, how is that different from the ASF running its own internship program
vs participating in Outreachy?

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 the $500 accounting fee for each intern working on an ASF
project.

*Benefits to communities participating in Outreachy*

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 from
marginalized groups in tech.

A major difference between Outreachy and other internship programs like
Google Summer of Code is that Outreachy requires applicants to make a
contribution to the participating free software community. This means that
during the contribution period, people from marginalized groups in tech are
testing your community on-boarding ramp.

The Outreachy website is designed to help lower barriers to newcomers to
free software. We ask mentors to submit their projects in a very specific
format. We gather information about project communication channels,
required project skills, newcomer friendly issues, and more. The website
removes common barriers that newcomers to free software face. For instance,
many newcomers have never used IRC. The website translates all IRC URLs
into a link to open that IRC channel in a web-based IRC clients. This
allows applicants to immediately get help from a mentor.

Getting all of this information in one place allows newcomers to make
contributions more quickly. The average amount of time it takes an
Outreachy applicant complete their first contribution is 1 week. Outreachy
has a five week contribution period. This allows mentors to be sure that
the applicant has the right skills to be a successful intern.

Many mentors have reported that the simple act of submitting their project
has removed barriers for newcomers in their project. The project submission
form asks how a person can get started making their first contribution.
That's led to mentors finding documentation is missing or out of date. We
ask for a link to newcomer friendly bugs, which often prompts the mentor to
add more of them. We ask mentors what the system requirements for their
projects are. Often projects require that people have expensive systems,
but marginalized groups in tech are more likely to have lower-end systems.
This is a prompt for mentors to decide what they can improve in their
development environment to lower the barriers for people from marginalized
groups.

*Benefits to interns*

Another benefit is that Outreachy provides specific structure around the
internship program: feedback check-ins, a chance for interns to connect
with each other, and support for finding a job in free software after the
internship.

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.

We also have a private chat server where Outreachy interns can connect to
each other. That's essential to ensure the interns don't feel alone in a
world of more experienced developers.

We have a series of emails and chat sessions which guide interns through
common problems they may 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. I fear that people who are new to
running internship programs may be unfamiliar with some the issues that
interns face.

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.

*Summary*

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.

You can see past communities that have participated in Outreachy on our CFP
page and our past rounds page:

https://www.outreachy.org/communities/cfp/#mentor
https://www.outreachy.org/past-projects/

Let me know what other questions you have!

Sage Sharp
Outreachy Organizer