KubeCon Diversity Scholarships

[Stephen Augustus]

Hey Steering + Community folks,

While at KubeCon Barcelona, I heard an account of a Release Team role lead not being able to attend because they were denied a diversity scholarship.

I don't know the inner workings of the scholarship selection process, but given that "scholarships are awarded based on a combination of need and impact"[1], I wonder if some deference could/should be given to contributors who have dedicated at least 6 months of their time (the minimum span of shadowing a Release Team role + executing a Release Team role lead). I'm specifically alluding to our definition of impact here.

Apologies if this is not the correct forum for this. I just wanted to jumpstart the conversation somewhere.

-- Stephen

[1] https://events.linuxfoundation.org/events/kubecon-cloudnativecon-north-america-2019/attend/diversity-scholarships/

[Nikhita Raghunath]

+1

The Outreachy intern who worked with us didn't get the diversity scholarship as well.

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[Davanum Srinivas]

Michelle,

Do you know who at the CNCF runs the program?

Stephen,

Not knowing the details of who was denied. looks like we may have to separate "Diversity" from "Travel Support"? Where the "Travel Support" would help cover the scenario described in your email more easier than under the "Diversity" category.. Any way let's dig into this more and see how decisions are being made.

Thanks,

Dims

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[Stephen Augustus]

The candidates in question, both from the Release Team and Outreachy perspectives, could've probably easily qualified on either the diversity or "travel support" criteria.

That said, I appreciate you recognizing this and helping to move the needle forward! :)

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[Davanum Srinivas]

Got it! thanks Stephen. 

[Lindsey Tulloch]

+1 to this

I had a number of conversations with people who were curious about how decisions are made regarding who is awarded a scholarship since there were a number of people who seemed to fit the criteria who were denied. More transparency about how these decisions are made would help the situation, I think.

Further to what Dims said concerning travel support vs diversity scholarship: I think there is a whole other conversation that could happen here around how those awarded scholarships are identified. I don't want to derail the conversation, but some diversity scholars do feel that there's a stigma attached to the term "diversity scholar" that detracts from their inherent abilities and contributions to the community. Contributors, in particular, who are marginalized and in need of support to attend should absolutely be awarded scholarships, but it might be preferable to say that everything is either "travel support" or "needs based scholarships" and give a clear criteria about how many are available and how decisions are made.

Lindsey

[Dan Kohn]

CNCF has a diversity scholarship committee made up of a rotating group of several volunteer community members. However, we have many more applications than we do scholarships, despite running (what we believe to be) the largest diversity scholarship program of any conference.

In addition, we have travel funding available for speakers and other key community members when their companies do not provide funding. In the past, community leaders have made requests to me, Chris Anisczcyk, or eve...@cncf.io and we have generally been able to accommodate them.

Also, note that diversity scholars are not identified on their badge or anywhere else and that participating in any programs (like the on-stage picture) is completely optional.

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Dan Kohn <d...@linuxfoundation.org>

Executive Director, Cloud Native Computing Foundation https://www.cncf.io

+1-415-233-1000 https://www.dankohn.com

[Davanum Srinivas]

Dan,

Thanks. Here the issue was that the individuals did not know that there was another option and we all got to know after the event. 

So the key seems to be getting to know early who will end up getting denied So we could request travel funding for folks from this category. Would that be fair to say? Can we please get some visibility (private heads up to say steering and/or contribex) so we can act on it quickly? Would that work?

Thanks,

Dims

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[Paris Pittman]

nodejs set up a travel fund for this so its transparent -> https://github.com/nodejs/admin/blob/master/MEMBER_TRAVEL_FUND.md. Maybe we could have something like this for contributors who don't have company coverage or otherwise?

is there an application to be on the selection committee?

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