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Alisa Osunfunke Orduna

@a.d.orduna

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I'm a curator of beloved communities, writer, & cultivator of cultures of belonging. I believe in a world w/o homelessness, racism & gender violence.

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Rebranding, musing, finding my own language, de-assimilating, disrupting comfort, promoting indigenous knowing - being who I truly am. by @a.d.orduna

In politics, it is rare that you find one candidate that aligns with all your values, vision, and philosophical beliefs.

In these moments, I step back beyond my self-interest and assess who is best for the moment. Is this an Obama moment? A time for innovation? A time for taking risks? A time for steadfastness to navigate turbulent waters?

For me, the unknown ahead requires experience and stability and I think Mayor Bass and Xavier Becerra are the best choices.

We can work out details tomorrow- today, manifest the world you want by exercising your right to vote. by @a.d.orduna

Mom-me.

24 years gone on 10/27/26.

Life milestones that I wish you were here for, and somehow know you are sitting in a hand carved rocker on that Southern veranda up in heaven with the ancestral aunties and uncles, laughing and shaking your head as you watch over me.

Miss you.

Grateful for the the time we had, and more so for the life lessons you drilled into me.

Never forgotten.

Until . . . 🤲🏽🤍 by @a.d.orduna

@smcedu Board of Trustee Dr. Nancy Greenstein and I presented on the @smchsw certificate program at the Association of Community College Trustees Conference.

Our session was the last session of the conference at 8:00 this morning. We weren't sure if anyone would show up and surprisingly we had a rich conversation with about 20 CC leaders.

While they appreciated the Certificate program, many had questions on how to address housing insecurity among students.

Some were in planning stages for the development of campus housing, but even those rents may be out of the reach of most students in need unless deeper subsidies are secured.

Their feedback was both a sobering eye opener, and also a great opportunity to weave relations between the community college districts, local COCs, counties, and homeless services providers.

Perhaps today planted seeds for a needed national conversation. by @a.d.orduna

A great night in Chi Town. So many childhood memories emerged; so many new memories created.

Nothing better than ending the day with House music and martinis @sipmartini1520

Back to business early in the morning. by @a.d.orduna

This year's Colors of Connection Gala in honor of @lacommons was a vibe.

It was great to run into friends and colleagues, while also meeting established and rising generation of storytellers and artists, using their talents and crafts to create spaces for connection, joy, love; collectively sharing our pride in who we are in our hues of Blackness, celebrating the richness of the newly designated South Central LA's Historic Black Cultural District. Thank you Senator @lolasmallwoodcuevas

Our CEO Karen Mack, with her famous laugh, is truly a weaver, connecting different pockets of people and places into a tapestry of who we truly are as one L.A. with many cultural expressions.

The value of our diversity is monetized by the incredible efforts to silence and erase our contributions in this era. BUT artists preserve truth through their words, sound, movement, visual interpretations, monuments, and experiences they create.

L.A.Commons supports community artists who craft the works so our presence is remembered into time immemorial.

Congratulations to all of the honorees -Dr. Robert K. Ross, Prophet Walker, and Lauren Halsey, the legacy you have imprinted on the LA landscape inspires each of us to love a little more.

How did it get blessed with chairing this board? by @a.d.orduna

In a previous post, I mentioned this wonderful bookstore in the new @fly_bur airport.

I later learned this is an extension of @octavias_bookshelf , Dena's own Nikki High.

Flying these days is expensive and no fun, BUT if you happen to come through Pasadena-Hollywood-Burbank, stop buy and support.

I bought a few early Christmas presents. 🥰 by @a.d.orduna

Like the journey of truth through Octavia Butler's Afro-futurist worlds, I have found my stride and renewed hope in the homelessness response sector by transitioning more and more into working with frontline, middle, and emerging leadership staff in homeless service organizations.

Too often us old timers neglect to create space for leadership cultivation and training.

We expect passion to transform into sound supervisory skills, conflict mediation, even fiscal management and contract management.

We expect essentially strangers or long time peers, to align values, outline communication practices, agree how to disagree, and articulate a shared vision out of written contractual goals - all while "doing the work".

Leadership, inherent in the work at all levels regardless of titles, requires support and intentionality beyond what HRs are trained to do as even a diamond needs to be molded to shine.

I am grateful for supportive mentor bosses like Gloria Guard, Kelli Bernard, Ana Guerrero, Brenda Shockley, Jannie L. Blackwell and many colleague-friends who have invested in me. Not every lesson was or is easy to learn, but in hindsight they helped shape how I move today.

Thus grateful to be in a position to give back and support this generation, putting their all into great work. The greast gift is witnessing someone reclaim their own power and space at the end of our time together; however many takes there are.

BTW, this fabulous collection of Octavia Butler's books are at the new Hollywood-Burbank airport bookstore. I don't know who the buyer is, but totally impressed and did some early Christmas shopping. 🤗 by @a.d.orduna

Grateful for the opportunity to support participatory engagement practices for the Robert K Ross Ctr for Hope and Healing's development team led by Linc Housing and TCE.

This project is a breakthrough philanthropic model translating Care First values from the Alternative to Incarceration Workgroup (chaired by Dr. Ross and facilitated by colleague @didizuni11 ) plus additional community input from our efforts, into physical, spacial, and emotional design.

I helped curate this historical representation for today's groundbreaking of the many cultural groups who have shaped modern LA's landscape as guests on unceded Tongva/Gabrieleno territory. It was an expansive and layered acknowledgement of the many stories held in the memoric roots of El Aliso and the specific land where the project will be located.

As we each sprout our own stories, we must also continue to honor, learn, accompany, and acknowledge the original caretakers of this land and all of their living relatives.

Thank you Chief "Red Blood" Anthony Morales of the Gabrieleno San Gabriel Mission Band for today's blessing. by @a.d.orduna

Let's go!!!

Fall Semester.

SMC.

It is a beautiful thing seeing students still interested in giving back to humankind through a career in homelessness services.

The last cohort spoiled me with their hearts and brilliance. Putting good intentions out there for a great course ahead.

We can make it to 9:00 too 🥰 by @a.d.orduna

Fall Gala season is upon us and of course I have to promote LA Commons' Color of Connection.

We are honoring some incredible artists and cultural leaders, including Lauren Halsey, whose work—from Sister Dreamer to her broader practice—beautifully reflects the power of art, place, community, and Black imagination.

We will also celebrate the transformative public spaces created by LA Commons-affiliated artists throughout Los Angeles.

And I cannot leave out Dr. Ross - an amazing philanthropic leader who invested in place-base revitalization efforts to uplift thriving communities for Black and Brown youth at a time when others sought their containment.

Colors of Connection is a high-energy, joyful, almost carnival-like evening.

Purchase your ticket here: https://www.lacommons.org/the-colors-of-connection. They will sell fast so don't miss out. by @a.d.orduna

When working with teams around topics of identity and intersectionality, I have found it to be important to explore the identity of place.

Many of our organizations sit in spaces of historical legacy; may have been the site of contestation or amnesia; may be facilitators of gentrification; or may be a compostable space where trauma and crisis is memorialize and transformed into healing.

Today had the opportunity to do a walk-about with a team in Oakland. There is so much more to learn, but seeing place through each others eyes helped us learn more about our selves and way of being in the world. Today. 🥰 by @a.d.orduna