Call for May 2023 mentoring communities

Date: January 5, 2023

Two black women sit on a couch, with laptops on their lap. One woman is pointing to the other woman's laptop screen. The other woman is smiling. Photo is cc-by 2.0 WOCinTech Chat

Photo CC BY 2.0 WOCinTech Chat

Outreachy seeks mentors

Outreachy is seeking open source and open science communities to mentor Outreachy interns in the May 2023 cohort.

All communities must find finding for at least one intern ($8,000 USD):

Humanitarian open source communities can apply for funding from Outreachy
Open science communities can apply for funding from Outreachy
Other open source communities need to find their own funding. Communities might use their own community funds, or find a company to sponsor an intern.

All types of open source communities can apply to receive additional funding for interns. However, funding for at least one intern must be secured first.

Important dates

January 24 at 3pm UTC - Live streamed mentor chat
February 6 at 3pm UTC - Live streamed mentor chat
Feb. 11, 2023 at 4pm UTC - deadline to sign up to participate as a mentoring organization
March 3, 2023 at 4pm UTC - deadline for mentors to submit projects

Please see the full mentor schedule below.

Submit Community Application

What communities need to know

What is Outreachy?
Mentor duties
May 2023 internship dates
Humanitarian open source funding
Open science funding

What is Outreachy?

Outreachy is an internship program. Outreachy internships are:

💵 Paid - $7,000 USD total internship stipend

🌍 Remote - both interns and mentors work remotely

🕰 3 months - internships run May 29 to August 25

Outreachy's goal is to increase diversity in open source. Past Outreachy interns are:

♀️ 92% women

🏳️‍🌈 4% transgender, genderqueer, or non-binary people

🧕🏾 64% people of color

🧑🏿 12% people from a historically disadvantaged caste or tribe

Statistics are based on responses to the 2019 longitudinal study of Outreachy alums.

Read Community Guide

Mentor duties

The heart of Outreachy is our volunteer mentors. Mentors work directly with Outreachy applicants and interns.

Outreachy looks for mentors who are helpful, patient, welcoming, and kind.

Mentor time commitment:

March 6 to April 3: Mentors spend 5 to 10 hours per week during the applicant contribution period.
May 29 to August 25: Mentors spend 5 hours per week during the internship period.

Mentors will need to provide an internship project description. Outreachy does not allow applicants to submit project ideas.

It is okay for mentors to submit multiple project ideas. Communities with sponsorship for one intern tend to list 1 to 3 projects. Some communities list as many as 5 to 7 projects.

Outreachy encourages co-mentoring! Co-mentoring is when two or more people mentor the same Outreachy intern.

Mentors will need to provide a list of tasks for applicants to work on during the contribution period.

Are you curious what it's like being an Outreachy mentor? Come learn more during our two live-streamed chats! We'll host a panel of past Outreachy mentors, who will share their experiences and mentoring tips.

Chat dates:

January 24 at 3pm UTC
February 6 at 3pm UTC

Where: PeerTube. PeerTube is an open source video hosting platform. The mentor chats will be live streamed on PeerTube. Outreachy will also be streaming the chat on YouTube (link will be announced soon).

May 2023 internship dates

Jan. 2, 2023 at 4pm UTC	Community sign up opens
Jan. 16, 2023 at 4pm UTC	Initial applications open
Feb. 6, 2023 at 4pm UTC	Initial application deadline
Feb. 11, 2023 at 4pm UTC	⚠️ Deadline for communities to sign up to mentor
March 3, 2023 at 4pm UTC	⚠️ Deadline for mentors to subject project descriptions
March 6, 2023	Contribution period begins
April 3, 2023	Contribution period ends
April 3, 2023 at 4pm UTC	Final application deadline
April 14, 2023	Intern selection deadline
April 26, 2023	Outreachy organizers finalize intern selections
May 4, 2023 at 4pm UTC	Interns are publicly announced on the alums page
May 29, 2023 to Aug. 25, 2023	Internships period

Intern funding

All communities must find finding for at least one intern ($8,000 USD):

Humanitarian open source communities can apply for funding from Outreachy
Open science communities can apply for funding from Outreachy
Other open source communities need to find their own funding. Communities might use their own community funds, or find a company to sponsor an intern.

All types of open source communities can apply to receive additional funding for interns. However, funding for at least one intern must be secured first.

Humanitarian open source funding

Outreachy is seeking humanitarian open source communities to participate in the May 2023 internship round.

Outreachy welcomes applications from all open source communities that address humanitarian issues. You will need to meet our eligibility criteria.

In short, your community must be:

open source: your project's source code and creative works must be published under an open source license
humanitarian focused: your project should tackle a humanitarian issue
community: your project should have at least 2-3 people who make regular open source contributions to your project

In the December 2021 cohort, 5 humanitarian open source communities received sponsorship for interns. Those communities included projects like:

moja global helps prevent climate change by calculating green house gas emissions from forestry, agriculture, and other land uses
Oppia provides online high-quality education to those who lack access to education
Public Lab democratizes science to help citizen scientists address environmental issues

Outreachy will fund up to 10 humanitarian open source communities in the May 2023 internship cohort. Humanitarian communities will be guaranteed funding for at least 1 intern.

To apply for humanitarian open source intern funding, please submit a community application.

Please contact Outreachy organizers with your questions about humanitarian open source funding!

Open science funding

All open science communities

Outreachy is pleased to receive a grant from Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to provide funding for open science interns.

Outreachy welcomes open science communities who focus on any of the following areas:

reproducible research
open access
open data sets
open data science
open collaboration
citizen science
using or creating open source software

Outreachy expects to fund interns with 10-15 open science communities in the May 2023 Outreachy internship cohort.

To apply for open science intern funding, please submit a community application.

Apply to participate