My name is Jackie Keefe, and I’m an advocate for fire survivors with medical, access, and functional needs and a member of the Commission on Persons with Disabilities.

After the August 2023 wildfires, information and networking became my greatest passion. I needed to know the right people to help me understand the bureaucracy of disaster response and recovery so that I could help our community navigate through the red tape.

Collaboration is one of my core values and has proven crucial in the community advocacy space. Building relationships has become somewhat of a superpower of mine, and it’s a vital piece of having success working in the Hawaiʻi State Legislature.

The connections that I’ve forged and the work that I’ve done since the fires have encouraged me to think creatively about how we can work together to urgently solve problems across the state, and I look forward to working with other State Representatives who share that vision.