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Local Chapters and Communities Working Group/Meeting minutes/2026-07-23

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Meeting started at 14:14 UTC.

Attendance

Present

  • Eugene - PH
  • Héctor - ES (left at 14:15)
  • Laura - Board liaison (also KE)
  • Maggie - US

Administrative

Main agenda

Local Chapters and Communities Congress

  • March 2026 congress blog post draft: https://hackmd.io/rL3UBd75T9-OogHLPqxY2A
    • This needs to be published as soon as possible, and before SotM
  • SotM 2026 congress session approved
    • Session page: https://2026.stateofthemap.org/sessions/E7G93L/ at Tahiti room
    • Facilitators: Laura, Maggie, Geoffrey, Michael, and Anisa
    • Agenda topics:
      • Launch of 2026 microgrants
      • Announce 31 Day OSM Challenge
      • Discuss 2nd 2026 virtual conference (get ideas from attendees)
    • Congress will be run as an mini-unconference using HackMD as the program notes
    • TO DO: Confirm available materials in the room. Does the room have a white board or something similar? Maggie will bring sticky notes and pens/sharpies.
    • Announce on Discourse

Local Chapter applications

  • Catalan application
    • Application had a vote during the June OSMF Board meeting: vote was 3 in favour (Craig, Brazil, Roland), 1 against (Daniella), 2 abstentions (Héctor, Maurizio); result was the motion did not pass
    • There will be another vote in the July meeting
  • Spanish application
    • Héctor previously said that the organisation had control of their bank account
    • Eugene thinks that community consultation could start after he does another pass of the documents

Microgrants

  • Based on the previous month's discussion, subcommittee should warn grantees of potential payment issues (based on EWG's experience) and they should plan accordingly
  • WG agreed to just have Eugene, Geoffrey, Laura, and Kiri (OSM US Board) as the core subcommittee members, with Maggie an alternate/tie breaker
  • Next steps:
    • Write down everything as guidelines including criteria and post it on the Foundation website (and/or OSM Wiki)
    • Use OSM wiki as the submission venue; and community can submit support/comments/concerns for each submission
    • Subcommittee will do private evaluation
    • Ask potential grantees if they can be reimbursed because it will help a lot with the aforementioned payment issues
    • Subcommittee should also checks payment feasibility as part of criteria
  • Timeline:
    • Subcommittee to present draft guidelines/criteria at the next LCCWG meeting on Aug 6
    • Subcommittee to finalize guidelines/criteria by Aug 9
    • Publish guidelines/criteria before SotM and add grant request templates to wiki
    • Between Aug 9 and SotM, rest of WG to review and comment on the guidelines/criteria
    • Announce during SotM Congress August 28 14:30
      • Also do a blog post, Discourse thread, and poster
    • September 1 to 30: Call for grantees
    • October 1 to 31: Subcommittee evaluation
    • November 2: Awards announced
      • Publish a blog post, and announce on the same Discourse thread
    • November 2026 to northern spring 2027: Grant implementation period
      • Grantees could target OSM Awareness Month, GIS Day, Geo Week
    • March 2027: Grantees should do reports during the 2027 Local Chapters and Communities Congress

31 Day OSM Challenge

  • WG agreed to do this project this year
  • Discuss during SotM Congress
  • WG to draft 31 things to do and decide hashtags

Any other business

  • OSM US will be getting the 2027 GeoWeek site updated because someone from Poland reached out

Next meeting

  • Scheduled for August 6, same time
  • Follow up with Sawan

Meeting ended at 15:11 UTC.

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