Collaborators

Anna Ortega-Williams, LMSW, PhD

Dr. Anna Ortega-Williams is a social worker, public scholar, researcher, educator, and organizer inspired by the healing alchemy of social action among Black youth. Anna is the Bachelor of Social Work Program Director, and an assistant professor, at the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College. A social worker since 2001, she is excited about trauma recovery interventions that push the boundary between individual and collective healing and social change. Her research focuses on historical trauma, posttraumatic growth, organizing, and well-being. She is deeply inspired by local, national, and global social justice movements, in particular Black youth-led responses to interrupting systemic violence.

Anna was recently awarded a CUNY Interdisciplinary Grant to launch the NYC Land-Based Healing Project in partnership with community gardens and farms across the five boroughs and a team of scholars. The project centers on the meaning of working land in NYC as sites of social action, connection to culture, and intergenerational legacies of healing. Her work is informed by growing up in public housing in the Bronx, as well as her commitments to joy, healing, imagination, and hope while transforming the world. Anna holds a PhD in social work from Fordham University’s Graduate School of Social Service, Master of Social Work from Stony Brook University, and a Bachelor of Arts from Hunter College.