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+# Core Maintainer and Affiliated Editor support for Derek Homeier
+
+### Project Team
+Derek Homeier
+
+### Project Description
+Continue role as astropy core and io.ascii maintainer and responder
+to user support and contributor's issues; 
+work as Affiliated Package editor in the pyOpenSci partnership.
+
+#### Roadmap Items
+List which [roadmap](https://github.com/astropy/astropy-project/blob/main/roadmap/roadmap.md) item(s) this work will help address?
+- Functionality :red_square: Identify and ensure progress on longstanding issues that should be high priority
+  - open issues in `io.ascii` (not necessarily "red" ones though)
+- User Support
+  - ensuring continuity through ongoing support, no specific roadmap topics for this
+- Community Building and Sustainability :red_square: Increase the learning and mentoring opportunities for people interested in becoming contributors and helping to develop existing contributors into maintainers.
+  - review first-time and novice contributors' pull request with a focus on continued participation
+
+### Project / Work
+
+#### Continue as general (core) maintainer and Affiliated package editor.
+
+- Work on SOC (and potentially as link to LOC) for the 2026 Coordination Meeting.
+
+- Participate in HPC and Spectroscopy/NDdata working groups and Spectroscopy Dev telecons.
+
+- Further consolidating the new partnership with pyOpenSci on Affiliated packages.
+  
+#### Continue as `io.ascii` maintainer.
+
+- Address open issues; revisit possible integration of the faster Numpy `loadtxt` C parser.
+
+#### Support for Software Operations in responding to support requests:
+
+- Monitor Openastronomy Discourse, Facebook Python in Astronomy groups, Slack channels, mailing
+  list and Github issues for questions in need of response, identifying potential assignees.
+
+- Review PRs especially from new/first time contributors.
+
+### Approximate Budget
+currency: US $
+
+- Salary under independent external contractor agreement: 6 hours weekly for 35 weeks
+  to start in April or May (until then the work already funded under the ROSES-2024
+  contract should be covered), for a total of 210 hours (accounting for holidays) @ $120 / hour
+
+- TOTAL: $25,200
+
+- Minimum viable amount: estimated at $8,400 for 2 hr / week
+
+### Period of Performance
+Apr 1, 2026-Dec 31, 2026