Rhonda Ortiz

Project Manager

Contact Information

Office: Jef 102
Phone: (213) 740-5594
E-mail: rmortiz@usc.edu

Biography

Rhonda Ortiz is a Project Manager at the Program for Environmental and Regional Equity and the Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration at USC. Ortiz holds a Masters in Urban Planning from UCLA. She co-authored Making Change: How Social Movements Work and How to Support Them and Immigrant Integration in Los Angeles: Strategic Directions for Funders with Manuel Pastor. Ortiz previously worked as an Evaluation Associate for The California Endowment, working closely with evaluators serving the Hmong immigrant community of the Central Valley, evaluating initiatives targeting policy and advocacy work and grassroots organizations. Prior to The Endowment, Ortiz worked in varied capacities, such as, a Research Analyst for SEIU Local 399, conducted research on living wages for the living wage ordinance in Santa Monica and coordinated an environmental education program. Fluent in Spanish she has lived in Mexico and worked with a team of researchers to develop economic development projects between immigrant Hometown Associations in Los Angeles and their communities in Jalisco, Mexico.

Areas of Expertise:

• Immigrant Integration
• Grassroots participation and advocacy
• Program Evaluation