Who and why
Our goal is to increase Python community diversity through programming outreach events. Basic programming skills are so empowering and useful that we think everyone should have them.
We strive to:
- Show new programmers and the Boston Python community examples of smart, confident, capable programmers of all backgrounds.
- Bring new, awesome, diverse people into local Python programming communities through diversity and outreach events.
- Inspire other people to run their own introductory workshops and outreach events, and to get more user groups thinking about diversity and outreach.
Results
The event has resulted in lasting diversity improvements for the Boston Python user group. In January 2011, when we began organizing the event, about 2% of Boston Python attendees were women. Since then, 15% or more of our attendees are women. The group's membership has grown to over 3500 people, making it the largest Python user group in the US.
We've found that our success hinges on integrating attendees into a strong local community. We're lucky to have our events be a part of the Boston Python user group.
About our organization
Asheesh Laroia, Deborah Nicholson, Christine Spang, and Jessica McKellar were inspired by the RailsBridge workshops and made the first workshop happen as part of OpenHatch's outreach efforts.
OpenHatch is an open source community aiming to help newcomers find their way into free software projects. We organize this event because we believe in bringing more people into open communities, and because it teaches attendees skills necessary to participate in open source.