2021-12: Outreachy progress

by Sage

I’m trying to get back into the habit of posting a monthly status report, even if it’s short or late. Progress, not perfection!

Summary

Announced major changes to program policies:

  • Increased internship stipend from $6,000 USD to $7,000 USD
  • Decreased intern working hours from 40 hrs/week to 30 hrs/week
  • Shifted from three payments of $2,000 USD to two payments of $3,000 and $4,000 USD
  • Increased the number of times we collect internship feedback from 3 to 4

Hiring process:

  • 90 people applied to our community manager job
  • 55 people had a 15 minute screening interview (with one of six Outreachy volunteers)
  • 47 people completed a 1 hour written exercise
  • 8 people had a final interview

Policy Changes

The policy changes were a major pain to put into place. The policy change from three payments to two payments were proposed in late August 2021. In hindsight, this ask was made too late in order for us to implement in a timely fashion for the December 2021 cohort.

The result was that we had to notify mentors quite late of the policy changes. Only one community had some concerns about the changes, the rest were quite supportive. Still, we need to include time for discussions with mentors and coordinators.

In order to allow for more feedback from key stakeholders, Anna and I came up with the following policy change timeline:

Cohort impactedDue DateAction Item
December – MarchMarchOutreachy organizers brainstorm policy changes
MayOutreachy PLC approves any major policy changes
JuneCommunication of policy drafts to mentors and coordinators, refinement based on feedback
JulyOutreachy website updates to reflect new policies. Communicate policy changes to applicants via the blog, Twitter, and/or announce mailing list before the initial application period opens.
May – AugustJulyOutreachy organizers brainstorm policy changes
SeptemberOutreachy PLC approves any major policy changes
OctoberCommunication of policy drafts to mentors and coordinators, refinement based on feedback
DecemberOutreachy website updates to reflect new policies. Communicate policy changes to applicants via the blog, Twitter, and/or announce mailing list before the initial application period opens.