August was a month full of planning. After a lot of consideration with the Outreachy community about whether to have a December 2025 cohort, we finally decided to move forward with one. Because we were already behind schedule for the normal December timeline, things had to move quickly so we could catch up.
A few weeks ago, we asked mentoring communities what activities they considered essential and which ones could be scaled back. The responses we received were thoughtful, and they helped us better understand what matters most to our mentoring communities. They shared how valuable intern reports and chats have been, but they also acknowledged that some of these activities could be temporarily dropped if it meant keeping the round sustainable. Based on this feedback, we decided to reduce a few activities, such as switching blog prompts for reports and scaling down the number of intern chats. You can read more about these decisions in our blog post.
Another key change this month was the introduction of a new feature that allows mentors to state their AI policies when submitting projects. This idea came out of community conversations about the increasing role of AI tools during the Outreachy contribution stage. To address this, we added an “AI policy” field to project submissions. The field includes help text encouraging mentors to either describe their own expectations or link to their community’s broader policy. This change not only gives mentors more control but also helps applicants understand the project’s expectations when it comes to AI usage. You can view the PR here.
From my side, much of the month was spent facilitating these conversations with our mentors & coordinators. I worked closely with mentors to collect feedback. I also took the lead in implementing the AI policy feature, from drafting the help text to testing how the field would display to applicants.
Despite the rushed timeline, we were able to officially open both initial applications and the call for mentoring communities this month. It was energizing to see activity begin to pick up so quickly. Initial applications are already starting to come in, and soon mentoring communities will begin to submit their projects.
Overall, August was a month defined by tough decisions. We had to be realistic about our financial situation while still finding ways to improve the program. It wasn’t an easy month, but I’m looking forward to seeing the December 2025 cohort take shape in the months ahead.
Tilda's Thoughts 