Stacks Ambassadors: Meet The People Taking the Grants Program To The Next Level
by Will Corcoran on April 19, 2022
With our new Grants Dashboard up and running, we are excited to formally introduce the lynchpins for the program going forward, the Grants Ambassadors. Grant Ambassadors act as the first point of contact for grantees and help identify grants, guide grantees through the grants process, and serve as a mentor and consultants.

To guide you through the new Grants Dashboard as well as the associated people and tools, we’ve created four important resources:
1
Introducing The New Grants Dashboard ↗
2
Stacks Ambassadors: Taking Grants To The Next Level (this post )↗
3

Stacks Grants Program: Process ↗
4
The intention behind bringing ambassadors on was to scale up the grants review process and add value to the Grants Program and broader Stacks community. The ambassadors that we have onboarded this year are multi-faceted, wear a ton of hats, and all share the same passion for extending Bitcoin’s functionality.

While some ambassadors can assist with creative details and others, technical nuances, all ambassadors embody the following roles:

  • Mentor
  • Project Manager
  • Consultant
  • Visionary

We are thrilled to announce that a couple of weeks ago the first four Ambassadors joined the Grants program and are already making significant contributions. Please join us in welcoming Diopitis, Jasper Bower, Vane Vargas, and Vidia as Stacks Ambassadors!
Diopitis
Dio is a developer and Technical Ambassador focusing on new tooling and features of the Grants Dashboard, as well as identifying needs in the Stacks ecosystem and helping new grantees get funding. He is a co-founder of Syvita Mining, a decentralized mining pool for CityCoins. Dio also served on the team that built the site used to activate and mine MiamiCoin. As an Ambassador, he hopes to lower the barrier of entry for devs getting into Web3 and Stacks by providing in-depth tutorials and solutions for building apps with Stacks tooling and libraries.
Vidia
Vidia is a developer in the Stacks ecosystem and a Bitcoin evangelist. They/he/she is also a co-founder of Syvita Mining and worked on the team that built the site used to activate and mine MiamiCoin. Vidia and Dio will be leading the charge on building the Grants Dashboard Knowledge Base. This effort will include building the functionality required for grantees to contribute video tutorials and blog posts to the Knowledge Base. Vidia is passionate about Stacks and spreading the word around the new use cases and Bitcoin-powered dapps.
Jasper Bower
Jasper joins the program as a Community Ambassador. Through his knowledge of the crypto industry, Stacks, and relationships within the community, he will be focused on supporting grantees with feedback, growth, and mentorship. Jasper previously worked as part of the Stacks Foundation social team, where he helped build up the Stacks Twitter to where it is today, organized giveaways, and helped created educational content and videos. When Jasper isn't working on stealth Stacks projects, he's balancing channels on his node and stacking Sats. Jasper will be leading the charge on keeping the Grants Dashboard flush with high impact Wishlist Grants.
Vane Vargas
Vane is a Community Ambassador supporting initiatives that drive community growth, outreach, and engagement. Vane served on the CrashPunks team as a Partnership Lead, Discord Mod, and the Twitter Content Creator. As an ambassador, her strengths lie in marketing, event management, and building client relations to encourage more individuals to enter Web3 and the Stacks ecosystem. One of Vane’s many roles as a Community Ambassador will be to write weekly blog posts featuring newly approved and recently completed grants.

Will manages the grants program at the Stacks Foundation. He's spent the last 15 years serving as a team and project management lead in the architectural design industry. Will is a licensed architect and has successfully facilitated collaborative processes as both an architect and construction manager.
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