Merge pull request #1613 from scala/ambassadors-blog

Ambassadors blog

Author: SethTisue

blog/_posts/2024-03-28-ambassadors-initiative.md

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+---
+layout: blog-detail
+post-type: blog
+by: The Scala Center
+title: Announcing the Scala Ambassadors initiative
+description: An initiative to recognize and support community members who contribute back.
+---
+
+We are pleased to announce the launch of the Scala Ambassadors initiative.
+
+This new effort aims to:
+
+* Strengthen the Scala community
+* Promote a positive image of Scala
+* Recognize and support the independent work of active community members
+
+## What are Ambassadors? 🤔
+
+Ambassadors are key figures in the Scala community: speakers, organizers, teachers, content creators, open source maintainers, and so on.
+
+Ambassadors have volunteered to work with the Scala Center and the community to:
+
+* Help newcomers learn Scala and become part of the community
+* Improve communication between everyone involved with Scala
+* Aid and support each other's efforts
+
+We encourage Ambassadors to:
+
+* Be present whenever possible at their local community events
+* Start new community events if they aren't already happening
+* Be visible to other community members as Ambassadors
+* Be perceived by the other community members as go-to people to find high quality answers to Scala-related questions
+* Relay community feedback to the [Scala organization](https://scala-lang.org/community/#whos-behind-scala)
+
+## Ask an Ambassador! 🙋
+
+How can Ambassadors help you, as a Scala user?
+
+We aim to put active and helpful individuals, both locally and online, on your radar.
+
+Whether you have a question about how to start speaking at a conference or organize a local meetup, or you're not sure about your next steps in Scala, these are people you can reach out to.
+
+## Empowering Ambassadors 💪
+
+The Scala Center will provide and foster a space for the Ambassadors to help each other and discuss topics that arise in their community work.
+
+We will also support them by promoting their activities on the Scala organization's social media. This way, the Ambassadors will gain more visibility and their work will gain more reach.
+
+## Launching 🚀
+
+The Center selects Ambassadors who have:
+
+* Strong knowledge of Scala and its community
+* A positive track record of activity in the community -- conferences, meetups, forums, chat rooms, open source projects, and so on
+* No track record of unprofessional behavior
+
+Currently, we are in the process of selecting and onboarding the first group of Ambassadors. A few of them are already listed here:
+
+* [Scala Ambassadors page](https://scala-lang.org/ambassadors)
+
+At the moment the list is short, but we aim to make it much longer in the coming weeks and months.
+
+Stay tuned for more information about the Scala Ambassadors initiative and the Ambassadors themselves! This is only our first blog post on the subject.
+
+## Becoming an Ambassador 🪴
+
+We'll cover this in a subsequent blog post.
+
+## Background 📔
+
+The Ambassadors initiative was first publicly mentioned in the Center's [Roadmap for 2024](https://www.scala-lang.org/blog/2024/02/06/scala-center-2024-roadmap.html). We invite you to peruse the whole roadmap, if you haven't already.
+
+The initiative first took concrete shape at [Scalar 2024](https://www.scalar-conf.com) in Warsaw, at which many of our first batch of ambassadors were present. Thanks to the conference organizers and to everyone who participated in these discussions.