ON THE COVER: Rebecca Rivera sits with a picture of her son Josh. Josh was facing a life sentence due to an overly punative sentencing scheme. But through Rebecca and her supporting community’s efforts, the life sentence was taken off the table, and Josh will be able to come home to his family. The Albert Cobarrubias Justice Project (ACJP) — comprised of a network of families, organizers, advocates and lawyers — is a community organizing model aimed at equipping impacted communities with the tools and information needed to meaningfully impact their local criminal justice system. The principal means of accomplishing this goal is by bringing a community organizing ethic to the court process; encouraging the active engagement of families and communities in the defense of a loved one who has had contact with the criminal justice system; holding the public agencies that make up the criminal justice system accountable; and bringing a community presence to what is usually an isolating court process. The ACJP is program of Silicon Valley De-Bug.
Based in San Jose, CA, Silicon Valley De-Bug is a grassroots non-profit enterprise that produces community-based media projects, initiates community organizing campaigns, and incubates entrepreneurial projects launched by its own membership. De-Bug’s multi-media platforms produce a bi-lingual magazine, a weekly radio show, a weekly television show, and assists in developing media infrastructure for other community organizations. De-Bug is a part of New America Media, a national network of ethnic news outlets. De-Bug is also the host organization for the Albert Cobarrubias Justice Project.
This publication has been made possible with the support of the Soros Justice Fellowship.