raj.jayadev

Raj Jayadev is the founder and director of Silicon Valley De-Bug — a media, community organizing, and social entrepreneurial collective based in San Jose, CA. Through De-Bug, Jayadev started a family organizing model called the Albert Cobarrubias Justice Project – a methodology for families and communities to impact the outcome of cases of their loved ones and change the landscape of power in the courts. They call the approach “participatory defense” and are now training organizations and public defenders on the model nationally. Through participatory defense, Jayadev also created the practice of “social biography videos” to impact sentencing and charging, which received the Silver Heart Award from the Society of Professional Journalists for giving “voice to the voiceless” in the court system. Jayadev is currently an Ashoka Fellow, a fellowship for social entrepreneurs, where they are assisting him in scaling participatory defense into a new national practice. Jayadev has written for dailies across the country, and his work has been profiled in outlets such as the New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and NPR. He can be reached at: raj@siliconvalleydebug.org and more about his work can be found online at www.acjusticeproject.org