Grants:Programs/Wikimedia Community Fund/Conference Fund/Establishing A Continental Visa Scholarship Fund for North America
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Applicant details
[edit]- A. Are you applying as a(n)
Wikimedia Affiliate (chapter, thematic org., or user group)
- B. Full name of organization presenting the proposal.
Wikimedians of Indiana User Group
- F. Do you have an account on a Wikimedia project?
Yes
- F1. Please provide your main Wikimedia Username.
Dominic
- F2. Please provide the Usernames of people related to this proposal.
N/A
- G. Are you legally registered?
Yes
If you are applying as an individual or your group is not a legally registered nonprofit in your country, we require that you have a fiscal sponsor.
- I. Fiscal organization name.
N/A
Objectives and Strategy
[edit]- 1. Please state the title of your proposal.
Establishing A Continental Visa Scholarship Fund for North America
- 2.1. When will the event begin? Please enter the event start date.
2025-10-09
- 2.2. When is the last day of your event?
2024-10-13
- 3.1. When will you begin preparing for your event?
2025-02-01T00:00:00Z
- 3.2. When will you expect to complete your last event payment?
2028-09-01T00:00:00Z
- 4. In which country will the conference take place?
International (more than one country across continents or regions)
- 4.1. In which city will the conference take place?
We are requesting
- 5. Is it a remote or in-person event?
Hybrid event
- 5.1. What will be the total number of participants at the event? (including scholarship recipients + organizing team + other guests + self funded guests) (required)
250
- 6. Please indicate whether your work will be focused on one country (local), more than one or several countries in your region (regional) or has a cross-regional (global) scope.
International
- 6.1. If you have answered regional, please write the country names and any other information that is useful for understanding your proposal.
North American region, defined as Canada, the United States, Mexico, and all Central American and Caribbean nations and dependencies
- 7. If you would like, please share any websites or social media accounts that your group or organization has.
- 8. Do you work with any thematic or regional platforms such as WISCom, CEE, Iberocoop, etc.
Yes
- 8.1. Please describe what platforms and your work with them.
WikiConference North America, which brings together all affiliates in the region, as well as a potential North American Hub, which is in formation.
- 9. Please describe the target participants for this event.
The target participants are valued contributors and Wikimedia affiliate members, primarily from Mexico and the Caribbean. There is no explicit minimum, but applicants will be judged by a scholarship committee and/or require endorsement by their national chapters to be approved for scholarships.
- 10. Please provide the link to the event's page if you already have one.
wikiconference.org
The following questions (11-14) will refer to the Community Engagement Survey which is required in order to submit a proposal. Here is the survey form that you can copy and use (if the link does not work): https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ieEI8EFf2vxjD9wN_h8-srYeRCp4fhSp7_1_wiR2jh8/edit. This survey is required to access a Conference grant.
- 11. How many people did you send the community engagement survey to?
100
- 11.1. When did you conduct the survey, and for how long?
08-22-24 to 09-02-24
- 12. How many people responded to the survey?
12
- 13. What are the main objectives of the event?
We propose to establish a new multi-year scholarship fund outside of the grant funding tied to each annual conference. Within the North American region, most WCNAs (all so far) are held in the United States and Canada, which poses significant challenges for travelers from elsewhere. These two countries are among the most difficult (and expensive) in the world to obtain visas to travel to. We have identified the need for travel visas as one of the biggest barriers to participation among Mexican, Central America, and Caribbean Wikimedians. In order to foster more engagement from these countries in efforts such as the WikiConference North America and the North American Hub generally, we want to sponsor non-immigrant travel visas for priority community members. This effort is important not just to increase the possibility of travel, but also to make those Wikimedia communities generally feel more welcomed by the US and Canadian Wikimedian communities.
- 14. Based on survey responses, what are the most important things your community should do at the conference to achieve these objectives?
We are proposing this approach, because in multiple years of holding WCNA, as well as other regional events, organizers have learned that visas are the main barrier for citizens of Mexico who do not already have one. Visa interview appointments are often so difficult that travelers frequently can't get an appointment until after the event in question has passed. With this fund, we would:
- Work with any relevant North American-based Wikimedia affiliate—but especially Wikimedia Mexico and WikiCari—to establish a selection process for WCNA scholarships
- Consult with a US-based immigration attorney (initially) to advise on the non-immigrant visa process, representing WCNA's interests to key consulates, such as the US embassy in CDMX, and providing expert education to visa applicants to ensure success.
- Issue reimbursements for any visa fees, passport fees, or related travel expenses in the course of obtaining visas for travel to WCNA
- 15. Please state if your proposal aims to work to bridge any of the identified CONTENT knowledge gaps (Knowledge Inequity)? Select up to THREE that most apply to your work.
Geography, Language, Socioeconomic Status
- 15.1. In a few sentences, explain how your work is specifically addressing this content gap (or Knowledge inequity) to ensure a greater representation of knowledge. (optional recommended).
The specific purpose of this grant is to provide support and funding to facilitate cross-border travel to highly involved Wikipedians. This will break down barriers between the US/Canada Wikimedia affiliates and the rest of the continent, and improve geographic and linguistic diversity. Since we will be providing travel scholarships to lower-income countries for travelers who would not otherwise afford to come to WCNA, it will help address socioeconomic inequities as well.
Obtaining visas is not just expensive, but takes navigating a confusing bureaucracy, as well as substantial amount of time (often much more than the notice we give for a WCNA). E.g., the visa interview time is currently 469 days in CDMX, and was as high as 800 in the last 2 years. Other times include 372 days (Monterrey), 497 days (Juarez), 499 days (Tegucigalpa), 533 days (San José). In the Caribbean, some applicants must travel to nearby countries just to visit a US embassy for their interview, a major expense.
- 16. Please state if your proposal includes any of these areas or THEMATIC focus. Select up to THREE that most apply to your work and explain the rationale for identifying these themes.
Human Rights, Diversity
- 17. Will your work focus on involving participants from any underrepresented communities?
Geographic , Ethnic/racial/religious or cultural background, Linguistic / Language, Socioeconomic status
- 18. Do you intend to invite or engage with non-Wikimedian individuals or organizations? If so – can you explain your intention for this outreach?
We will engage immigration experts. WCNA 2024 organizers met with John Broyles—of top immigration law firm Broyles, Kight & Ricafort, PC (https://www.bkrlaw.com/)—to prepare for this grant proposal.
We will also engage with relevant advocacy organizations. For example, for WCNA 2024, happening during Hispanic American Heritage Month in the United States, the conference is holding a day of Latin American conference programming, including a Hispanic heritage editathon, and working together with Equis Labs (https://www.weareequis.us/about) a US nonprofit organization that promotes Latino civic engagement.
- 19. What will you do to make sure participants continue to engage in your activities after the event?
We will use the visa fund to support travelers from countries where wait times to receive visas to the US or Canada are many months or even years. We expect these to be long-term, committed community members, and will work closely with the Wikimedia affiliates operating in their regions to ensure we are choosing the best candidates. Depending on circumstances, these types of visas often last from 3 up to 10 years, and so we expect that the visas, once received, will be able to be used for years afterward by those Wikimedians to attend multiple conferences.
- 20. In what ways do you think your proposal most contributes to the Movement Strategy 2030 recommendations. Select a maximum of THREE options that most apply.
Ensure Equity in Decision-making, Invest in Skills and Leadership Development, Manage Internal Knowledge
Logistical Aspects
[edit]- 21. Do you have any proposed venue for the event?
The 2025 WCNA is being held in New York City, and that has been submitted under a separate grant proposal. For this proposal, we will use funds for visa travelers to that, or any future WCNA. Some travelers from Mexico, for example, could apply in 2025 but not be able to receive their visa and travel until a WCNA in 2026 or 2027, for example.
- 22. Is the event venue and hotel accessible for people with physical disabilities?
Yes
- 23. How many scholarships would you like to offer?
We would offer as many as 30 scholarships for visa- and passport-related fees, with exact number depending on the nationalities of applicants and fees incurred.
- 24. What expenses will the scholarship cover?
We would cover visa application fees and passport fees. Some visa applicants have a significant amount of travel to reach their visa interview appointment, and we would also seek to cover those travel expenses as well.
- 25. How will scholarship recipients be selected?
The cost to apply for a US non-immigrant visitor visa from any country is $185 USD; the cost for a visa to Canada is $185 CAD (currently $140 USD), or $100 CAD for visitors 80 and over. The cost for a new Mexican passport is (at current exchange rate) around $190 USD. Other countries' passport fees may be less (e.g. a Jamaican passport at $6500 JMD works out to about $40 USD; a Costa Rican passport is around $75 USD).
- 26. In which ways can Wikimedia Foundation staff support your event onsite?
We will gladly take any visa-related advice or insights from the WMF travel team.
- 26.2. Do you intend to invite any WMF staff members to your event? (please note that all WMF staff travel and accommodation costs will be covered by the foundation). Please indicate what is the limit number of WMF staff members you would like to welcome at your event.
Not applicable to this proposal (WCNA does engage many WMF employees, but would not be funding their visas).
- 27. Please outline the roles and responsibilities of the organizing team for the conference.
The organizing team will be composed of WikiConference North America User Group planning team members, as well as all relevant regional affiliates. US (and potentially Canadian) affiliates will take primary responsibility for engaging with legal services in their countries, and securing relevant advice and expertise on non-immigrant visa travel to the US/Canada. Wikimedia DC will act as the fiscal sponsor for paying invoices and issuing reimbursements. Other affiliates, primarily Wikimedia Mexico, WikiCari, and potentially Iberocoop, would be responsible for identifying and endorsing candidates for the scholarship program, developing their own communications and application processes.
- 28. Do you have plans to co-organize the event with other Wikimedia communities, groups or affiliates?
Yes
- 28.1. If yes, can you please explain how you are going to co-organize the event and what responsibilities each partner will have.
As stated in the previous answer, this effort is envisioned as a collaborative effort of multiple affiliates in the countries implicated, which will have to work together to increase the number of US/Canada visas among our community members.
- 29. What kind of risks do you anticipate and how would you mitigate these?
A primary risk is that some candidates will be unsuccessful in their visa applications. Another major risk is that some awardees would leave the movement or for some other reason not travel with the visas we fund. Ultimately, while we would try to mitigate these risks with a rigorous selection process and a legal advice to ensure success, we also feel that there will be a net benefit even with some such cases. In other years, some WCNA scholarship funds have gone to waste, when money was spent on airfare for flights that were canceled when visas couldn't be secured in time. We believe this long-term effort will secure more visas over time than the current process, which puts all of the burden on the travelers, and will result in fewer missed flights in future WCNAs.
- 30. Friendly space policy - Please add the link to the friendly space policy that your community will be using for this event.
https://wikiconference.org/wiki/2024/Safe_Space_Policy
Learning, Sharing, and Evaluation
[edit]- 31. What do you hope to learn from your work organising this conference?
We will gain a much greater understanding of navigating our countries' immigration systems, and the challenges faced by Wikimedians in attending our regional events. For Wikimedians of Mexico and Caribbean nations, this learning will allow more Wikimedians to attend WikiConference North America, to generally be more involved in regional Wikimedia organizing, and to potentially take advantage of scholarships to other Wikimedia movement conferences. For Wikimedians of the United States and Canada, they will gain insights from the greater participation of these other countries in the North American region. We also hope for these Wikimedians, through increased involvement of Mexicans and other North American nations, to continue growing their empathy, and prioritization of multilingualism and international engagement.
- 32. Main open metrics
| Main Open Metrics | Description | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Scholarship awards | Number of scholarships awarded to visa travelers | 30 |
| Visas obtained | Number of scholarship awardees successfully receiving visas | 25 |
| Reliable visa guidance generated | With legal assistance, a step-by-step guide, especially one tailored to Mexican citizens. | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
Financial Proposal
[edit]- 33. What is the amount you are requesting from Wikimedia Foundation? Please provide this amount in your local currency.
12900
- 34. Select your local currency.
USD
- 35. Please upload your budget for this proposal or indicate the link to it.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/194m1RctIAaygr9TiGti2qRK2L3Mgf9mfbNgP_t1sthQ/edit?usp=sharing
- 36. Do you expect to receive funding for this conference from other organizations to support your work?
No
- 36.1. If yes, what kind of resources are you expecting to get?
- We/I have read the Application Privacy Statement, WMF Friendly Space Policy and Universal Code of Conduct.
Yes
- Please use this optional space to upload any documents that you feel are important for further understanding your proposal.
- Other public document(s):
Endorsements and Feedback
[edit]Please add endorsements and feedback to the grant discussion page only. Endorsements added here will be removed automatically.
Community members are invited to share meaningful feedback on the proposal and include reasons why they endorse the proposal. Consider the following:
- Stating why the proposal is important for the communities involved and why they think the strategies chosen will achieve the results that are expected.
- Highlighting any aspects they think are particularly well developed: for instance, the strategies and activities proposed, the levels of community engagement, outreach to underrepresented groups, addressing knowledge gaps, partnerships, the overall budget and learning and evaluation section of the proposal, etc.
- Highlighting if the proposal focuses on any interesting research, learning or innovation, etc. Also if it builds on learning from past proposals developed by the individual or organization, or other Wikimedia communities.
- Analyzing if the proposal is going to contribute in any way to important developments around specific Wikimedia projects or Movement Strategy.
- Analysing if the proposal is coherent in terms of the objectives, strategies, budget, and expected results (metrics).