I am, Dr. Iya Alisa Osunfunke Orduna, an Afro-Feminine Indigenous scholar, writer, spiritual trainee, community engagement facilitator, and community development practitioner dedicated to ending homelessness through the co-creation of cultures of belonging.

Explore this site to learn more how I apply this practice

Historical Black cemetery in Smiths Grove, Kentucky, the land my ancestors worked as enslaved labor.

I am the daughter of the late Dora Aliese Jones Brou;

I am the granddaughter of the late Florence Orduña Hickerson and Aliese Lucille Robinson Jones;

I am the great granddaughter of Callie Butler, Manwilla Jones, Pearl Tolbert, and Bessie Hill;

I am the great, great granddaughter of Mary Looney Jones, Phoebe Briggs, Dora Durham Butler, Jennie Bell, Velmer Saunders, Martha Howard, and Bruna Lopez;

I am the great, great, great granddaughter of Minerva Foster Looney, Tena Bell, Mary Strange, Nancy Houston; and

I am the great, great, great, great granddaughter of Roxanne Campbell.

I am a Afro-Feminine Indigenous scholar and community development practitioner who believes that places are alive with spirit left by the footprints of our ancestors, and therefore we must re-member stories marginalized by social amnesia that erase collective memory, and instead seek to reconcile past wounds in efforts to stimulate new growth.

This vocation is my contribution to tending the world's soul and in doing so, I seek to bring an example how one person can make a difference in healing to the human family by addressing  social diseases like racism, homelessness, fear of mental illness, gender violence, and environmental degradation. I truly believe the pathway forward is with a planetary consciousness where we believe and act as if we are all citizens of one planet and our survivorship depends on harmonious co-existence.

Skid Row, Los Angeles, a neighborhood of love that needs City and County investments to thrive.

Design by a participant of the Skid Row Women’s Retreat hosted by the Project 100 Women’s Policy Fellowship Program at Downtown Women’s Center (Summer 2021)

I seek to inspire a network of creative place-makers seeking to rebuild cities as urban gathering spaces that foster a sense of belonging in an ever-changing dynamic world; and bring this work forward through storysharing: words from my imagination found on my blog "Alisa's thoughts on beloved communities", in my books; through community stories exchanged within the Callie Rose Literary Arts Association; and the co-creation of society stories by clients of the Florence Aliese Advancement Network, LLC.

 
 

How can we dream a different world into being together?

Contact me.

adorduna@fann.community

Los Angeles, CA 90008