How do we approve PyLadies chapters?

[lorenanicole]

Overview

We don't have a clear policy for how to approve a PyLadies chapter. As of now we have started:

• @Mariatta has started working on automating chapter creation with bots
• @elainewong and @Mariatta have taken over [email protected] to respond to new chapter requests

Scope of work

• What is our policy for approving PyLadies? Do we need a way to vet requests?
• When do we approve PyLadies chapters?
• Who approves PyLadies chapters?

Temporary Response

• We will approve on a monthly frequency at our global meeting using @Mariatta and @elainewong list they are tracking for incoming requests

[primuse]

We do need a way to vet requests as some people might make those requests with no plan or commitment to grow the community. I suggest requiring prospective chapter organizers to provide recommendations/references from already existing chapter organizers. This I believe would help make sure that new chapters that open are sustained and don't become inactive after some time.

[Mariatta]

I agree that it would be great to hear more about their commitment.
However I feel that requiring recommendation from existing chapter leaders can be a barrier, and may be seen as lack of trust from our part.

I think there are other ways to show commitment though, other than getting references.

Some ideas are:

• provide plan/ideas of how they'll run their meetup for the next year, or
• provide plan on recruiting co-organizers, or
• provide examples of other involvements in community

[lorenanicole]

@Mariatta this sounds like something like updating the pyladies-kit with said resources!

[jackiekazil]

To be explicit, what problem are we trying to solve?

[lorenanicole]

@jackiekazil right now @Mariatta has added automation to this but basically we don’t want to just blindly approve. For example we need to confirm there isn’t already an active chapter. So the problem we have to solve is precisely that: what steps do we need to take to confirm a chapter is valid and should be created? This is captured in scope of work in the issue above.

Another thought that has popped up in discussion at the monthly global meetings - do we want to add in further steps to validate if a request is legitimate? As of now we just default to approving at the monthly global meeting if the chapter doesn’t already exist.

All of this when finalized should be clearly documented as well in the pyladies kit or elsewhere for organizers to find.

[Mariatta]

I'd also want to know what would be the policy of who get to be organizers. Are we ok with men becoming PyLadies organizers?

I also think it would help prospective organizers if we can answer the following:

• what does it even mean to run a PyLadies chapter? What are our expectation from a PyLadies chapter? Is hosting meetup a must, or optional?
• what kind of support can they expect from global PyLadies? Can they expecting funding from us? Compensation? Training resources?
  Once we have those defined, I think we might need to adjust the "new chapter" form so we can capture the necessary info. E.g. if we require women as the organizer, we might have to ask for gender in the form, instead of guessing based on the submitter's name.

[jackiekazil]

RE: Men as leaders -- PyLadies CZ was started by men, I believe. As women became more active they were empowered by the men. (I am grossly summarizing it, but that might be a good group to check in with when thinking about guard rails or non-guard rails.) https://pyladies.cz/

[willingc]

It might make sense to have men be at most "interim" organizers or "startup" organizers.

[lorenanicole]

@Mariatta has started communication of these items in the https://github.com/pyladies/project-admin-logisitics/issues specifically:

• How to start a chapter: Task: We need a policy surrounding country-based chapter.  project-admin-logisitics#8
• Country specific chapter: Task: Write policy for starting a new PyLadies chapter project-admin-logisitics#9
• How to deactivate a chapter: Task: Write policy surrounding inactive chapter project-admin-logisitics#10
• How to make "unofficial" chapters official: Task: Write policy/process for "unofficial" PyLadies and make them official project-admin-logisitics#11

Everyone here should weigh in @willingc @jackiekazil @primuse! As that project team is now "owning" this conversation we will close this issue.