Monica Ordoñez is the Program Director at Bachman Lake Together, a place-based collective impact organization in Dallas that partners with families, community organizations, and funders to achieve outcomes in the Bachman Lake neighborhood. In this role, she stewards neighborhood-driven strategies, aligning partners around shared goals and data to shift systems for all children and families in the Bachman Lake community. 

With nonprofit experience, Monica specializes in designing and training on collaborative best practices, project development, and intentional system change for families and youth. Her career began in direct services with high-need populations, where she employed a trauma-informed lens to support youth experiencing violence at home and in their communities, giving her a ground-level view of how systems help or harm.

Monica’s work in major metropolitan areas, including Los Angeles and Dallas, has led to advocacy and executive leadership roles in reformative education, where she has co-created culturally relevant, cross-sector learning spaces.  In Bachman Lake, she applies place-based best practices such as centering community voice, building long-term trust with families, and coordinating partners to address structural barriers like access to high-quality early learning and mental health supports.

Monica is drawn to initiatives that can be replicated with rigor, relevance, and strong relationships, particularly in communities that have been historically under-resourced. She holds a degree in Social Work from the University of North Texas, grounding her systems-change work in both practice and theory.