Alisa Orduña, PhD

Alisa Orduña, PhD, has been a practitioner, policy analyst, collaborator and thought leader in homelessness services for the past 25 years. It is her life’s mission to re-imagine neighborhoods as beloved communities where residents of all diversity have a sense of belonging and resources to thrive. During her career, she has worked on the cutting edge of homelessness policy formation and system refinement in the public and nonprofit sectors in Philadelphia, PA; Los Angeles, CA; and Santa Monica, CA. In 2020, she founded Florence Aliese Advancement Network. LLC, her own strategic advisement firm, working with local governments and philanthropic organizations across the country on the development of homelessness programs and policies. 

Dr. Orduña is a graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana (BA-English), the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (MPIA- Social and Economic Development), and Pacifica Graduate Institute (PhD and MA-Depth Psychology with a specialization in Community, Liberation, Indigenous, and Eco-Psychology). Her dissertation, Òṣun Consciousness: Unearthing Anti-Black Biases in the Homeless System Soul as reflected in the Sacred Histories of the African American Experience introduced an Afro-Feminine Indigenous approach to understanding and resolve the complex social phenomenon of homelessness and its impact on African Americans in the United States. 

Alisa is the author of Oshun’s Calabash, Dancing Across Cuba into the Memory of the Embodied African Soul & Finding Home, Unearthing the Feminine, and contributor to Seeing in the Dark Wisdom Works by Black Women in Depth Psychology edited by Sharon D. Johnson, PhD.  Learn more: https://www.adordunaatwork.com/