Mohit Raj

Age: 35

Home Town: New Delhi

Education: Columbia University (Obama Scholar), Jamia Millia Islamia (PGDM in NGO Management)

Specific Field Interests: Youth entreprenership, Education and Livelihoods

Placement: American India Foundation

Area of Focus: Social Entreprenurship, Criminal Justice/Prison Reformation, Storytelling, Sustainability

Quote: Do make a plan, it will not work but you will reach somehwere and it will be better than your plan.

Highlights: Mohit Raj is the co-founder of Project Second Chance, a first-of-its-kind prison reform and criminal justice intervention program in India that works directly with incarcerated youth between the ages of 18-21 and guides them to be change agents in the prison ecosystem. Paired with a peer fellow, each participant identifies a structural problem in the criminal justice system, envisions a scalable on-the-ground solution, and implements a year-long pilot project to test their solution. As a result, seven of these initiatives have been funded and supported beyond the fellowship year pilot. Mohit is also the co-founder of the Turn Your Concern Into Action Foundation (TYCIA), an organization that strives to improve educational access for children across India. Mohit is also an AIF fellow from 2013-14 cohort, Ashoka Fellow, an Obama Scholar, a Social Innovation Fellow with StartingBloc and a Swedish Institute Alumni.