Announcing PSF Community Service Award Recipients!

The PSF Community Service Awards (CSAs) are a formal way for the PSF Board of Directors to offer recognition of work which, in its opinion, significantly improves the Foundation's fulfillment of its mission to build a vibrant, welcoming, global Python community. These awards shine a light on the incredible people who are the heart and soul of our community– those whose dedication, creativity, and generosity help the PSF fulfill its mission. The PSF CSAs celebrate individuals who have been truly invaluable, inspiring others through their example, and demonstrates that service to the Python community leads to recognition and reward. If you know of someone in the Python community deserving of a PSF CSA award, please submit them to the PSF Board via psf@python.org at any time. You can read more about PSF CSA’s on our website. 

The PSF Board is excited to announce 5 new CSAs, awarded to Inessa Pawson, Kafui Alordo, Kalyan Prasad, Maria Jose Molina Contreras, and Paul Everitt, for their contributions to the Python community. Read more about their work and impact below. 

Inessa Pawson 

Inessa Pawson has been a tireless and dedicated contributor to the Python ecosystem for over eight years. She has led the PyCon US Maintainers Summit since 2020, not only shaping the event but actively opening doors for others to participate–onboarding new contributors and supporting attendees with characteristic warmth and care. 
 
Beyond PyCon US, Inessa has spearheaded the Maintainers and Community Track, the mentorship program, and the Teen Track at the SciPy Conference, and co-founded the Contributor Experience project, reflecting her deep commitment to making the Python community more inclusive and accessible. She brings that same dedication to her roles on the NumPy Steering Committee, the scikit-learn survey team, and the SPEC (Scientific Python Ecosystem Coordination) Steering Committee. As a leader on the pyOpenSci Advisory Council, Inessa has been instrumental in advancing the organization's mission to support open and reproducible science.

Kafui Alordo

Kafui Alordo has spent years building and nurturing the Python community in Ho, in the Volta Region of Ghana. What began for Kafui as volunteer coaching at the first Django Girls Ho workshop grew into co-organizing the second and third editions, and eventually leading the workshop as its primary organizer, while also lending his expertise as a coach and co-organizer at Django Girls events across Ghana. Recognizing that sustainable community growth starts with welcoming total beginners, Kafui introduced a coding bootcamp initiative for his user group that has broadened participation and helped new learners find their footing in Python. 

Kafui’s landmark achievement came with the organization of PyHo, the first-ever regional Python conference in Ho, which drew attendees from diverse backgrounds across the country. His impact has also extended well beyond Ghana, most recently stepping into the role of remote chair on the PyCascades organizing team.

Kalyan Prasad

Kalyan Prasad's journey in the Python community began in 2019 as a volunteer with the Hyderabad Python User Group (HydPy), one of India's largest Python communities, and he has grown steadily into one of its most consequential leaders. His dedication to PyConf Hyderabad has been especially remarkable–contributing across the CFP, program, and sponsorship teams, serving as co-chair in 2022, and stepping up as chair in both 2025 and 2026, representing four consecutive years of conference leadership at the regional and national level. 

At the national scale, Kalyan also served as co-chair for PyCon India 2023. Kalyan's commitment extends well beyond India, as he actively contributes to the broader Python ecosystem as a reviewer, mentor, and program committee member for conferences around the world. His care for community safety is further reflected in two years of service on the NumFOCUS Code of Conduct squad, ensuring that Python spaces remain welcoming and respectful for everyone. Kalyan has also joined the PSF Diversity & Inclusion Working Group this year, contributing to inclusion efforts. 

Maria Jose Molina Contreras

Maria Jose Molina Contreras has been a dedicated and wide-ranging contributor to the Python community, with deep roots in both Spanish-language and PyLadies initiatives. She has been a core organizer of PyLadiesCon since its inaugural edition in 2023, serving as co-chair in 2024 and 2025, and her tireless leadership helped make the most recent edition the most successful in the conference's history, raising over $55,000 in funds to support PyLadies members and chapters around the world. 

Maria’s commitment to Spanish-speaking Pythonistas is equally impressive: she contributes to the Python Docs ES initiative, coordinates events for Python en Español on Discord, and co-founded the PyLadies en Español initiative, including leading the PyLadies presence at PyCon US. At EuroPython, Maria has volunteered since 2023 and taken on growing responsibility, leading community booths, PyLadies events, and community organizer efforts in 2024 and 2025. She has also served as a reviewer for PyCon US Charlas since 2020 and has been a speaker at numerous conferences including PyCon US, EuroPython, and PyConES, sharing her expertise with audiences across the global community. 

Paul Everitt

Paul Everitt's relationship with Python stretches back to the very beginning! Paul was present at the early PyCons and played a foundational role as an incorporating member and director on the PSF's first Board of Directors, helping to establish the organization that supports Python to this day. Decades later, his commitment to the community remains as strong as ever, demonstrated through his long tenure as a Developer Advocate at JetBrains/PyCharm, where he has championed the company's sustained investment in Python open source. 

Paul’s advocacy extends beyond any one project, as he has provided support to smaller but important ecosystem projects like HTMX and remained a regular, encouraging presence at Python conferences and on podcasts. Most recently, Paul proved that his contributions are not merely historical–he co-authored PEP 750, introducing template strings (t-strings) as a significant new feature in Python 3.14, demonstrating a continued willingness to roll up his sleeves and shape the language itself. Whether writing PEPs, giving conference talks, or simply championing the people who make Python great, Paul’s generous and enthusiastic spirit is an invaluable gift to the Python community. 

Strategic Planning at the PSF

The Python Software Foundation (PSF) is excited to share that the PSF Board has been developing a strategic plan to guide the foundation's direction over the next five years. We are sharing the high-level goals today to collect feedback and commentary from the Python community. A full draft with detailed objectives will be published in early June for public feedback, and the board hopes to adopt the plan in July 2026, to be reviewed annually going forward.

Why now

The Python ecosystem is growing and changing fast. PyPI hosts over 800,000 projects and serves tens of billions of downloads per month. The Developers-in-Residence program has grown from a single role to a team spanning CPython development, security, and PyPI safety, proving that targeted investment in core infrastructure works. Last year's fundraiser showed that the community and sponsors are willing to support the PSF's mission when provided the opportunity.

The foundation also faces challenges. As we shared in November, the PSF's assets and yearly revenue have declined and costs have increased, while the demand for the foundation's work grows faster than its capacity. Last year we had to pause the Grants Program after reaching the budget cap earlier than expected. These pressures are part of why the board committed to a strategic plan: the foundation needs a clear framework for making hard choices about where to focus.

The PSF Board has discussed strategic planning over the years, including at the 2024 board retreat. This year, we committed to turning that discussion into a concrete plan. The process included numerous interviews with PSF Staff, community members, and participants across the Python ecosystem. After interviews, the PSF Board went through a prioritization exercise, followed by a series of dedicated and structured board discussions.

The direction

The plan has two parts: 

I. Organizational Goals: How the PSF operates across all its activities, and
II. Program Goals: Where the PSF directs its work and resources. 

We invite your feedback on all of the goals in both parts of the plan (See the “How to participate” section below). 

I. Organizational Goals: How we operate

1. Financial Sustainability: Diversify the PSF's revenue so the foundation is not dependent on any single source.
2. Building a Resilient Foundation: Strengthen governance, financial oversight, and knowledge management so the organization can survive transitions and operate transparently.
3. Diversity and Inclusion: D&I is not treated as a standalone effort. D&I is a lens for all PSF decisions and activities.
4. Transparency and Community Trust: Increase visibility into how the PSF makes decisions and uses its resources, as the community's trust in its governance is the foundation of the PSF's credibility.
5. Community Empowerment and Self-Sufficiency: Support Python communities in building their own capacity through collaboration and shared resources.
6. Strong Partnerships and Collaboration: Partner with organizations that distribute, extend, and depend on Python, as well as with community groups across the open source ecosystem.

II. Program Goals: Where we focus our work

• Secure Python's Software Supply Chain and Distribution Infrastructure. PyPI is critical global infrastructure, and supply chain security goes beyond the index. Python reaches users through many channels beyond python.org and PyPI, which makes collaboration with distributors essential.
• Responsibly Grow and Advance Critical Python Infrastructure. The PSF stewards PyPI, CPython, python.org, pip, and more. Growth needs to match staffing capacity and sustainable funding.
• Foster a Thriving, Connected Global Python Community. Support the global Python community through events, grants, and working groups, while empowering regional communities to be self-sufficient.
• Develop the Next Generation of Python Developers. Make Python accessible to newcomers and remove barriers for underrepresented groups.

How the plan works

We developed this strategic plan to cover a five-year period. The board will review progress annually with community input, review whether priorities need to shift, and publish the results so the community can see how we are tracking. The intention is for the strategic plan to be flexible and adaptive, so that it can effectively guide the PSF’s priorities as the ecosystem continues to grow and evolve, rather than a static document that begins to collect dust on the shelf.

We developed the plan to set direction–not implementation details. How to carry it out is the job of PSF Staff, and the specifics will evolve as we learn what works. Once adopted, the plan will directly inform how the PSF allocates its budget and staff time and how it seeks funding.

How to participate

If any of these goals matter to you, or if you think we are missing something important, we want to hear from you.

We welcome you to email strategy@python.org to share your thoughts. This is the best way to reach us asynchronously.

You can also join the conversation with us at:

• PSF Board Office Hours on May 12 and June 9th, on the PSF Discord. We hope to spend both of these sessions focused on discussing the strategic plan with people from the community.
• PyCon US 2026 at the Members Lunch and a dedicated Open Space session. We know only a small fraction of our community will be present at PyCon US this year, so we warmly welcome you to engage with us on Discuss and via the email address provided above.
• A Python Discuss thread is available for open community discussion. We welcome you to join in with feedback and comments. 

A full draft with detailed objectives under each Program Goal will be published in early June for community feedback via this blog, Python Discuss under the PSF category, and social media. The feedback window for this year will close before the July 8th PSF Board meeting.

This plan will shape what the PSF does and how it spends its resources for the next five years. If you use Python, contribute to it, or participate in communities around it, you have a stake in shaping its future.

Jannis Leidel, PSF Board Chair, on behalf of the PSF Board of Directors