As part of our mission to support and promote better science through support of the open source scientific software community, NumFOCUS champions technical progress through diversity. NumFOCUS recognizes that the open source data science community is currently highly homogenous. We believe that diverse contributors and community members produce better science and better projects. NumFOCUS strives to help create a more diverse community through initiatives and programming devoted to increasing participation by and inclusion of underrepresented people.
To support this effort, we are excited to announce that NumFOCUS has received a generous grant from the Moore Foundation. The grant makes possible the work of our Program Manager for Diversity & Inclusion, Dr. Gina Helfrich, and funds a variety of diversity and inclusion initiatives. We have convened a committee of diverse stakeholders to steer the direction of the Diversity & Inclusion in Scientific Computing program (DISC). The grant will fund: production of a scalable kit that can be disseminated to events to help promote best diversity and inclusion practices, an assessment of current diversity programs at NumFOCUS, and research on challenges and opportunities to improve diversity and inclusion within the scientific computing community.
NumFOCUS is excited to devote increased resources to our diversity and inclusion efforts, and we thank all those involved for their contributions.