Meet the Keep the Promise Coalition Team!
Executive Director
Jordan Fairchild (she/her) is a Mad, Queer and Trans, East Asian artist, organizer and the Executive Director of Keep The Promise Coalition. In her time with Keep The Promise Coalition, she has worked to build community power as a basis for Mad liberation, abolition and anti-carceral mental health systems change in Connecticut. Specifically, her work has focused on the elimination of policies which are rooted in psychiatric oppression and the deprivation of civil liberties in the mental health system, and in their place, promoting peer supports and other services which are focused on self-determination, and racial and social justice in Connecticut’s mental health system.
In 2023, she organized advocates state- and nation-wide to defeat a problematic state RFP which would have damaged the peer respite model, and co-facilitated the nation’s first Peer Respite Retreat in Charlotte, N.C. In place of the state of Connecticut’s initial approach to peer respite, Jordan organized over 80 local and national advocates to support 2024 legislation to introduce peer respite programs in Connecticut.
In addition to this, her recent work has included community organizing for harm reduction approaches to mental health, the abolition of the state’s Psychiatric Security Review Board, and more.
Community Organizer/Coordinator
DeVonté Kunzika (he/they) is a Queer & Trans, Black & first generation Angolan-Congolese artist, advocate, and Community Organizer/Coordinator at Keep The Promise Coalition. With a deep commitment to giving back to the Hartford community that raised him, DeVonté is dedicated to amplifying voices and fostering change.
Their creation, KITOKO—a 12-foot tall puppet designed to uplift Black Trans Lives Matter—has been a powerful presence at pride events, protests, and even met the international puppet “Little Amal” in 2023. While pursuing university studies, DeVonté explores environmental literacy through community puppet shows, monitoring native species such as the Eastern Bluebird, and presenting on Indigenous agricultural practices.
In his free time, DeVonté crafts poems and song lyrics to express the rich and diverse experiences of LGBTQ+ identity, mental health, and more.