We spoke earlier this month about how the WordPress community is putting emphasis on the importance of accessibility and now we’re looking more widely at diversity as a whole. While the WordPress community is extremely diverse, many minority groups are underrepresented at WordPress conferences and WordCamps. To combat this, Yoast have launched the Yoast Diversity Fund, pledging a minimum of €25,000 a year to increase diversity at WordCamps and other WordPress conferences around the globe by covering travel and accommodation costs.
According to Yoast, either conferences or individual speakers can apply if:
- The speaker is part of – or identifies as part of – a typically underrepresented group.
- The conference is not commercial.
- The conference targets either the WordPress, Magento, or TYPO3 community.
- The speaker has been accepted as a speaker to the conference.
Yoast have kept the application process simple:
Email diversity-fund at yoast.com and explain:
- who the speaker is;
- which underrepresented group the speaker is a part of;
- what conference you’re applying for.
We’re delighted to see Yoast debuting this scheme and we can’t wait to see which talented members of the community it helps speak at WordCamps throughout 2018.
