Puentes de Salud
Executive Director
Orfelina Feliz Payne
Puentes de Salud recently named Orfelina Feliz Payne as Executive Director, following a national search led by Dunleavy & Associates. Puentes de Salud is a nonprofit that promotes the health and wellness of South Philadelphia’s rapidly growing Latinx immigrant population through high-quality health care, innovative educational programs, and community building.
Orfelina Feliz Payne has spent the past 25 years dedicated to her life’s mission: combating social injustice through education and wellness. With a personal identification fostered by her real-life experiences of trauma, poverty, and discrimination, Orfelina brings a passion for applying strategic, yet thoughtful, initiatives that promote the empowerment and overall welfare of communities habitually treated with disregard.
Orfelina joins Puentes de Salud after serving for almost 18 years in various positions at Community Behavioral Health (CBH), the primary contracted behavioral health provider for the City of Philadelphia and a key partner in Philadelphia-based health initiatives. As the first Latina Director within the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Behavioral Health & Intellectual DisAbilities, she most recently served as Senior Director of Member Services at CBH where she was responsible for a budget of $3M and supervised a staff of 51 people.
In addition to her role as Senior Director of Member Services, Orfelina served as the Disparity Mitigation and Language Access Co-Chair for the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Behavioral Health. In these roles, she facilitated and participated in workgroups focused on listening and advocated for the inclusion of member voices, standards of care and the need for diversity, equity and inclusion at all levels of functioning in the organization.
In 2017, Orfelina led an employee resource group called “VOCES”, aimed at bridging communication and educational gaps between impoverished communities and the Medicaid system of Philadelphia. That same year, Orfelina coordinated CBH’s strategy and staff resources in support of the Mayor’s “Task Force Response to Combat the Opioid Epidemic, in addition to other City and CBH ground level initiatives. As Orfelina expanded in her roles, she ensured increased access to language resources for some of the most vulnerable Philadelphians. She facilitated successful partnerships between a network of providers and the City’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, the Behavioral Health and Justice Division, the Department of Human Services, the School District of Philadelphia, the Family Resource Network, and the Community Satisfaction Team. Orfelina was the recipient of the Grapevine Award from the Philadelphia Commissioner of the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual DisAbilities in 2019.
Proudly born and raised in the South Bronx of New York, Orfelina has made Pennsylvania her home for over 20 years. She has a bachelor’s degree in Applied Psychology from the Pennsylvania State University and a master’s degree in Business from Gwynedd Mercy University. She has also earned a Business Process Management Certification from Villanova University and Six Sigma Green Belt Certification.
Orfelina prides herself on being a woman of faith, a systemic thinker and an agent of change. She is the proud mother of two wonderful boys and wife to her amazing college sweetheart. Her friends and family affectionately call her by her nickname, Lina.
Dunleavy & Associates is pleased to welcome Orfelina to Puentes de Salud.