Rhonda Fields

Colorado State Representative – January 2012

Running on a platform of protecting the most vulnerable, promoting economic growth and education reforms, in Colorado's legislature, Rhonda Fields was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives in 2010. She is the first African American woman elected in House District 42 in Aurora, and she sits on the Health and Environment and Local Government committees.

Rep. Fields is recognized as a leader in her community, committed to kids, schools, public safety, and advancing businesses for job-creation. She is known for crafting bipartisan solutions to tackle tough issues ranging from consumer protection remedies to health care plans for kids.

She successfully sponsored nine bills and two joint resolutions in her first legislative session. To combat childhood obesity, she sponsored legislation to require 30 minutes of physical activity a day in our schools. She also led legislation to authorize the Public Utilities Commission to create a tiered electricity rate for customers with medical conditions.

Rep. Fields is the founder of the Fields Wolfe Memorial Fund, a nonprofit started in memory of her son Javad Fields and his fiancée, Vivian Wolfe. The two CSU graduates were murdered on June 20, 2005, less than a week before Javad planned to testify as a key witness in the murder of his best friend. That tragedy set in motion her public service career, beginning in 2007 when Gov. Bill Ritter appointed her to the Colorado Commission on Criminal Juvenile Justice, where she fought to improve public safety and our criminal justice system.

She also serves on numerous boards, including the Safe 2 Tell Advisory Board and Voices of Victims. Rep. Fields’ professional affiliations include Women in Government, the National Federation of Women Legislators, the Colorado Black Caucus, the National Council of Negro Women, the Urban League of Denver, the NAACP, Black Women for Political Action and Alpha Kappa Alpha, a sorority of African-American college-educated women.

In 2011, 5280 Magazine ranked Rep. Fields 37th on its list of the 50 “most powerful” people in the Denver Metro area, saying she has “gained the type of respect that politicians dream about.” She also received the 2011 “Rising Star Award” of the Colorado Democratic Party, the 2011 Leadership for Healthy Communities Award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Wilma Webb 2011 Co-Legislator of the Year presented by African American Voices, the 2011 Black Women for Political Action Award, the 2010 Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award and the Colorado Black Chamber of Commerce President’s Courage Award.