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title: Fedora Mentored Projects - Council Hackfest

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# Fedora Mentored Projects - Council Hackfest

Last February 2024 after FOSDEM, the [Fedora Council](https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/council/members/) met for a couple of days to discuss strategy and future of Fedora. As part of this discussion, the council also discussed the proposed initiatives, [Community Ops 2024 Reboot](https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Initiatives/Community_Ops_2024_Reboot) and [Mentored Projects 2024](https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Initiatives/Mentored_Projects_2024). We are glad to announce that both of them were approved by the council!

## What is the Fedora Mentored Projects initiative?

Fedora is a place where people with very different backgrounds and skills come together, from experienced professionals to students just starting out on their journey, and spanning various sectors such as engineering, marketing, design, and more. This diversity makes it the perfect place to promote mentoring programs.

Historically, the Fedora community has participated in the [Outreachy](https://www.outreachy.org/) and [GSoC](https://summerofcode.withgoogle.com/) mentoring programs. However, we aim to simplify the process for mentors and mentees, making it easier to apply to existing mentoring programs under Fedora or even coordinate new ones!

From our initiative wiki, our mission is:

```
The Mentored Projects team improves the overall onboarding experience for
Fedora Mentored Projects by equipping participants with role handbooks,
by creating community spaces for mentors to connect with each other,
and by advocating the new role handbooks and community spaces. 
```

## What have we already accomplished?

The initiative was created in November 2023, and since then, we have made significant progress. Here's an update on our work:

* We presented the initiative to the Fedora Council, receiving their approval and feedback.
* We identified past mentors and mentees and conducted several interviews to gather feedback on their experience.
* We applied to Outreachy, Google Summer of Code, and Google Season of Docs and secured budget for three Outreachy interns.
* We've begun drafting role handbooks, although they are not yet complete.
* We created a new private Matrix room for Mentored Project mentors to collaborate and discuss. We used this actively during the project application period with Outreachy.
* We facilitated the use of a public Matrix room for all project applicants and mentors to ask general questions about participating in Fedora.

## What do we want to do next?

There is still plenty of work to do to consider the initiative completed.

* Finish the role handbooks and translate the one for accepted interns into three major languages.
* Present the Mentored Projects Showcase at Flock 2024
* Present the Mentored Projects Initiative at Flock 2024
* Work with the Mindshare committee to properly schedule future mentorship opportunities' timeline
* Create custom swag for mentees and mentors recognition.

#TODO Explain role handbooks briefly.

## End goals

We envison a future where mentors and mentees know what is expected of them when entering a Fedora Mentored Project and have a smooth onboarding process. In addition, there is a culture of recognition for all the effort they put into the projects to be successful.