De-Bug Founder Awarded MacArthur ‘Genius Grant’ for Social Justice Work

Stoneleigh Fellow Raj Jayadev has received a MacArthur Genius Grant for creating a model of grassroots collective action called participatory defense.

The mysterious phone call came as Raj Jayadev left the Santa Clara County Hall of Justice after yet another day helping families of criminal defendants navigate the sometimes intimidating labyrinth of the court system.

“The first thing they said was, ‘Are you alone?’ ” recalled the co-founder and longtime director of San Jose-based Silicon Valley De-Bug. “Whenever someone says that, you want to say, ‘You got the wrong number.’ ”

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