Scholarships

Opportunity Scholarship

Ruby Central has established a program called the Opportunity Scholarship at our own conferences. The purpose of the program is to consistently bring new people into the tech community and to provide them with a comfortable, welcoming environment to explore our community and its events. In addition to our own implementation, we also are a resource for conferences and other tech events who want to feature their own versions of this program. Conferences may want to do so to positively affect diversity and actively demonstrate an interest in cultivating an attendee group including those who might not normally attend.

Our version of the Opportunity Scholarship program has three basic components. First is an application process that grants a limited number of complimentary passes to the event. This removes financial barriers for those selected, and helps event organizers follow through on bringing in new people. Second is the selection of a group of guides from the event's established community who are friendly, knowledgable, and interested in welcoming newcomers to the event's community. Third is a series of events, both offline and online, to provide spaces for scholars and guides to connect.

For certain organizers who may want to implement the Opportunity Scholarship program at their own events, Ruby Central can provide advisory guidance on the structure of the program as well as financial assistance to help subsidize the cost of free tickets for the scholars. In general, we determine this financial assistance thusly: new conferences receive 100% coverage on scholars and established conferences receive a matching grant. There may be exceptions to this; please email us for more details. The total number of scholars will vary based on the event's size, ticket price, and other logistical concerns.

If your event is interested in participating in this program, please reach out to us at contact@rubycentral.org.

November 23, 2022