About

Kris Coffield advocates for socioeconomic equality, educational opportunity, environmental and racial justice, and human rights. He currently serves as Executive Director of Imua Alliance, chief-of-staff for Rep. Jeanné Kapela at the Hawaiʻi State House of Representatives, and chairperson of the Democratic Party of Hawai’i Education Caucus.

Kris is a survivor of sexual trauma who is dedicated to coordinating trauma care for victims of sexual violence and building a world that is free from exploitation. He is completing a poetry collection about his experiences entitled Survivalist. He posts short poems and regular updates about his healing journey on Facebook and Instagram.

Kris has authored some of Hawai’i’s most progressive pieces of legislation, including the state’s sex trafficking ban (Act 206, 2016) and anti-revenge-porn law (Act 116, 2014), as well as proposals to institute single-payer healthcare (SB 1199, 2017), eliminate private prisons (SB 2979, 2018), accelerate Hawai’i’s transition to a clean energy economy (HB 1934, 2020), institute comprehensive paid sick leave (HB 2, 2021) and paid family leave (HB 5, 2021) programs, establish a living wage (HB 4, 2021), strengthen racial justice (HB 11, 2021) and sexual wellness curricula (SB 1347, 2021) in public schools, levy green fees (HB 6, 2021) and a carbon tax (HB 460, 2021) to combat climate change, expand protections for victims of sexual violence on college campuses (HB 691, 2021), and enact legal personhood for the sacred Native Hawaiian land of Mauna Kea (HB 693, 2021). 

He has also drafted over forty bills for the Hawai’i State Teachers Association, including the original constitutional amendment text to increase education funding (SB 2922) and Schools Our Keiki Deserve Act (SB 2586, 2016).

As a victim service provider for survivors of human trafficking, Kris has rescued over 170 people from Hawaiʻi’s slave trade. A specialist in direct intervention services, he regularly oversees outreach in locations at which exploitation is known to occur, often putting his life on the line to emancipate victims from sexual servitude. He is a leader in prevention education programming that empowers professionals and school communities to create spaces that are safe from sexual violence and provide victims of violence with trauma-informed care.

Kris is the editor of Interstitial: A Journal of Modern Culture and Events (journal is on temporary hiatus). His scholarly work has been published in World History Connected, In Media Res, Evental Aesthetics, and Hyperrhiz: New Media Cultures.

View his professional resumé at the following link: work experience. Organizations with which he is affiliated appear below.

Imua Alliance, Founder and Executive Director (2010-present)

Hawai’i Coalition Against Human Trafficking, Member (2012-present)

Democratic Party of Hawai’i, Education Caucus Chair (2018-present)

Hawai’i State Teachers Association, Government Relations Consultant (2012-2018)

Friends of Jeanné Kapela, Campaign Manager (2018-present)

Friends of Amy Perruso, Campaign Manager (2018-2020)

Friends of Micah Pregitzer, Campaign Manager (2019-2020)