u/Extension-Curve1763

Hi everyone,

I'm planning to apply for the LFX Mentorship Fall 2026 program. Last year, I missed an important part of the process because I didn't submit my proposal in time, so this year I want to prepare much earlier.

I'm particularly interested in AI/ML projects and have been contributing to open-source projects such as Docling and LlamaIndex.

I have a few questions:

• Where do organizations usually publish their Fall LFX project ideas before they appear on the LFX portal?
• Do mentors expect prospective applicants to start contributing before the application period opens?
• Which organizations have active AI/ML projects and welcome new contributors?
• Besides the official LFX portal, are there GitHub repositories, mailing lists, Slack/Discord communities, or other places I should monitor?

I'd really appreciate any advice from previous LFX mentees or mentors on how they found projects early and successfully prepared their proposals.

Thank you!