The Python Software Foundation re-opens its Grants Program!

The Python Software Foundation is excited to announce the re-opening of its Grants Program! 

The pandemic negatively affected the PSF’s finances with the cancellation of PyCon 2020’s in-person conference and lower donations. Thanks to PyCon 2020 Online sponsors, donors, and our financial reserve, we are able to continue to support the Python community! 

Historical Impact

The PSF’s Grants Program has supported the growth of Python in many regions and fostered the training for many individuals. Between 2014 and 2019, the PSF disbursed $1,637,000 in financial support to organizers and developers all over the world. 

Grant disbursements from 2014 through 2019 by grant type
To see a high resolution version, click here!

Updated criteria & requirements

For the immediate future, the PSF’s Grants Program will focus on virtual sprints, virtual events, and Python core development support. We are not currently accepting applications for in-person events. When that changes, we will update the community.

Here's an abbreviated overview of what the PSF Grants Work Group requires:

• For all applications: at least 6 weeks to review the application; so if your virtual sprint begins November 1st, submit your application no later than September 21. We also require a code of conduct.
• For virtual workshops & training: a detailed curriculum, a budget overview, and mentor information
• For virtual conferences: a schedule, a budget overview, sponsor information, and registration procedures
• For dev projects/sprints: milestone breakdowns with a timeline, and a budget overview

Be sure to read through the Grants Program information page and FAQ page before submitting your grant application to capture all the requirements and changes: 

https://www.python.org/psf/grants/

https://www.python.org/psf/grants/faq/

The PSF has put together a free resource list for virtual events. Some of these may help reduce the cost of your virtual event. We recommend that you read this page before submitting a grant application.

Information on how to submit a grant application can be found on our website.

Answer these surveys to improve pip's usability

The pip team has been working on improving the usability of pip since the start of this year. We've been carrying this work out remotely - by interviewing pip users, by sending short surveys, and doing usability tests of new pip functions.

We want to thank everybody who is contributing input to this work and are taking part in this research, which is still ongoing. We've learned a lot about who uses pip and how you use it. This has helped the team make decisions to improve pip, such as error messages and documentation to help you fix dependency conflicts.

Our team has put together a User Experience (UX) section in pip's documentation to tell you about this UX work. It covers what has happened so far, how you can contribute, and what is coming in the future.

Contribute to current UX work

Right now, you can take part in a number of studies about:

1. What pip features do you use most, and what pip feature you'd like to see - give your input by completing this survey
2. How "pip force install" should behave - give your input by completing this survey
3. How "pip --force-reinstall" should behave - give your input by completing this survey
4. Help create a design brief for a pip logo - give your input by completing this survey
5. What is your experience of using pip search - give your input by completing this survey

If you have time, the team asks for you to answer all of these surveys. You can do them in your own time, all at once or over a few days.

At the end of these surveys you can give your email address to be contacted for a short interview. These interviews will be via web conference/videocall.

Contribute to future pip UX work

If you want to contribute to our UX work in the future, please sign up to become a member of the UX Studies group.

After you join, we'll notify you about future UX Studies (surveys and interviews).

Contacting the pip UX Team

You can contact the pip UX Team by email.

We look forward to talking with you!

-Bernard Tyers, user experience, pip team 

Sumana Harihareswara, project manager, pip team

Noah Alorwu Awarded the PSF Community Service Award for Q2 2020

 

Noah Alorwu, software developer and co-organizer of PyCon Africa, has been awarded the Python Software Foundation 2020 Q2 Community Service Award.

Noah is the CTO of Cradx and has been involved with the Python community since 2017.

RESOLVED, that the Python Software Foundation award the 2020 Q2 Community Service Award to Noah Alorwu for his contributions to the growth of Python Ghana community, being an executive member of PyCon Africa and also organizing Django Girls workshop to bridge the gender gaps in tech.

In 2019, he played an active role in organizing the first PyCon Africa and was chair of the talk committee.

Noah is also one of the founders of DjangoCon Africa, the upcoming inaugural conference for Django developers on the continent. He has spoken at several Python conferences including DjangoCon Europe.

Noah is a consistent force for good, particularly in the African Python community.

And as part of this PSF Community Service Award announcement, we interviewed Noah Alorwu to give us some insight into his work with the Python community in Ghana and Africa.

Featured also in this interview is Rosina Carr, a mentee of Noah, who talked about Noah's influence in her life.

Origin Story

Can you tell us about your origin story? Like how you got into tech and your earliest involvement with the Python community?

My journey in tech started at an early age.

At 7 years old, I visited my cousins nearby who were privileged to have a desktop computer. They played computer games and had fun as I watched them with keen interest. I asked myself how all the events were happening.

As I had no chance to feed my curisity, I have since been finding answers to the questions, to the extent that I had to open my mum's Cathode Ray TV to look for the people in the TV. An action I received some serious beatings for.

I love tech to the core that I have to use part of my school fees to purchase an internet modem while in Junior High school to access the internet. I am currently the CTO at Cradx of which Python is one of our core stacks.

I have been involved in the Python community since 2017. I have helped organize workshops for women, organize the first PyCon Ghana and PyCon Africa.

The love for the community is one of a kind.

Community Involvement - the driving force

What drives/inspires you into doing all that you do for the Python community?

My commitment to the Python community s influenced by two things:

1. The community.
2. What drives me the most is that I can positively affect many who love to code but find it difficult. Many great developers aren't discovered yet because they live in underprivileged societies. I want to one day lead the crusade of getting them discovered.

How has your involvement within the community helped your career?

Time management, the ability to work with diverse people, and collaborate on open source projects are some of the things the Python community has brought to my career.

Getting more developers involved in the community

How do you think we can get more developers to be involved in the Python community in Africa?

• Nurture the technical talents of the devs so they can be super competitive in the market (on a global front and even locally).

• Another way is to host cross-collaboration programs with other tech communities, hubs, and the likes across Africa. But of course, it has to start locally before it's scaled to that level.
  
  For example, partnering with hubs to host sprints and the likes. This would create more visibility of the Python communities amongst developers.

• The Python community should connect developers to various parts of Africa, and also developers in the West with developers in Africa for cultural exchange and build support networks that would hopefully last throughout their professional lives.

• A website can be created to celebrate or document the successes of devs in the community, not just awards.

• Developers would surely be drawn to a community that values them and their work to the extent of providing them with a platform to showcase it.
  
  This exposure will be so helpful to the devs in that, they would get constructive criticism from even the perspectives of a non-techie (which would be helpful to whatever project it is they are working on).
  
  A lot of them would even learn how to 'explain' their products/projects.
  
  Above all, it would serve as a database for the Python community.  Think about it. Curating works from developers across Africa. That would be something else.

Impact Story

Rosina Carr attended a Django girls event in October 2017, where Noah was a coach.

She became a mentee and friend of Noah after the event.

Rosina shares some of the personal impact Noah has had on her life and the community.

Noah is a developer who is always willing to help others. He has organized some Django Girls events, PyCon Ghana and PyCon Africa. His friendly and interesting personality makes him very easy to talk to and work with. I quite remember the first Django Girls event  I went for in October 2017. It was fun and interactive.

The coach I was assigned to, couldn't make it, so Noah decided to coach my group alongisde his. And he coordinated it so well, that we did not feel left out.

Though we couldn't finish out websites at the event, he coached me after the event so I could get it done. He was always available when I needed him and oh, he is very patient.

This was just the beginning of Noah's mentorship. Noah continued to mentor me and encouraged me to coach other girls. Through Noah's help, I have coached some women at three Django Girls events. I am naturally reserved but he has helped me learn how to make friends at events like PyCon Ghana and PyCon Africa.

There are a lot of women out there that have been helped by Noah to develop a passion for programming, especially Python.

Conclusion

'The Python Software Foundation congratulates and celebrates the amazing work and contributions of Noah Alorwu to the Ghana Python community and the larger Python Africa community.

Python Software Foundation End-of-the-Year Fundraiser

We’re excited to announce that plans are underway for our end-of-the-year 2020 fundraising campaign launching on November 23rd and ending on December 31st!

In the past, we’ve worked successfully with organizations such as JetBrains who donated 100% of the profits from the sale of PyCharm to the PSF. The theme this year is geared toward education. We'll be actively supporting Python educators by collaborating with authors, trainers, and education companies that offer their services all over the world. The goal for the campaign is $30,000 and the funds raised will help benefit the PSF, our community, and those who educate Pythonistas worldwide. 

In order to keep this fundraiser manageable for our staff, we have a limited number of slots available. For those interested in working with us, we’ve created an application for participation. Through the application process, we hope to have products and services throughout the world.

100% of PyCon US net proceeds fund the PSF’s ongoing grant-giving and operating expenses. The cancellation of PyCon US, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, financially impacted our ability to continue regular operations. This affects our ability to maintain core Python infrastructure including the Python Package Index, the grants program, and other community support. 

This fundraiser is critically important and the money raised will help the PSF fund the tools and initiatives that Pythonistas use everyday.

How does it work?

Participating companies offer one (or more) product or service during the time period of the campaign, with all or a portion (20-50%) of the proceeds going to the PSF. Including a discount is optional.

Who should apply?

Authors, trainers, and educators that provide products and services focused primarily on Python.

What is the criteria for participation?

• The products and services offered are primarily Python focused.
• Your company participates in the Python community and supports the PSF’s mission.
• Your company agrees to abide by the PSF Code of Conduct.
• Your company agrees to donate all or a portion of the proceeds of your offer to the PSF general fund.
• Your company agrees to help publicize the fundraiser during the length of the campaign.
• To improve transparency, applicants must agree to abide by the Better Business Bureau disclosures and add the following on the site where they will make sales: 
• Companies must disclose the actual or anticipated portion of the purchase price that will benefit the PSF  
• The duration of the campaign 
• Any maximum or guaranteed minimum contribution amount 

Application to Participate in a Python Education Partnership

If you are interested in collaborating with us, please complete our application by September 21, 2020. All applications will be reviewed by the PSF Fundraising Committee. Participants will be notified by October 2, 2020, and details will be sent to those chosen.

We look forward to working with the community to make this campaign a success!

More information about the PSF can be found here.