There is the [MoM][0] in the Debian Med-Team.Is or was? According to that page, last updated 3 years ago, while there was some significant activity in 2014-2015 (10 years ago) it died out around 2017.
Since Andreas mentioned it earlier in the thread, I _assume_ it is still alive (i.e. members of the team are ready to mentor). Why it did not see new contributors, neither of us can tell; though I'd wager that many potential contributors are simply not aware that this opportunity exists.
There is the [Google Summer of Code program][1].I don't think you can seriously compare GSoC and things discussed here (which is helping random inexperienced people at random time with usually relatively minor tasks such as making a package or other contribution). They conflict by basically every parameter.
I am aware that what I am suggesting only helps a subset of potential new contributors. In particular those contributors who are very new to Debian, don't know where to start at all and would appreciate some guidance. It does nothing for those who can package or fix bugs/make improvements by themselves already (as the "ignored" OP of the thread) who don't need mentoring beyond that what d-mentors@ provides.
But given that the two problems exist independently, I don't see an issue in addressing them separately.
To me ("a random inexperienced person" describes me pretty well), the GSoC is being a good entry point to Debian and good example of what I mean by "structured mentorship". Without it I doubt I would have made an attempt at contributing to Debian.
It was also team-specific.
The fact that some mentorship programs only apply to a subset of new contributors (team or gender-specific) is not a problem, in my opinion, if it helps those new contributors that do qualify/match get started. Again, I am not claiming to have a solution for all problems new contributors might face.
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