Rebecca Wood lived all over Virginia before relocating to Massachusetts. She graduated with a BSW from James Madison University and served in Americorps with Virginia State Parks. Her plans for graduate school were put on hold indefinitely when her daughter, Charlie, was delivered ten hours into her twenty sixth week of gestation.

Early on, Rebecca learned she’d have to advocate for her daughter’s well-being, whether with hospitals, insurance companies, or social services. In time, she expanded her advocacy efforts into the policy arena.

Ms. Wood’s initial civic participation was as a volunteer and, later, a Team Leader with the nonpartisan voter registration organization, HeadCount. However, her first time on Capitol Hill and her active engagement began in January of 2017 when she stepped up to join the fight to save the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid in Washington, DC and beyond. It was during this time that she was introduced to the NLG through her participation in numerous civil disobedience actions in Washington, DC. This initial contact with the NLG and criminal justice system observations later inspired Ms. Wood to attend law school.

Since then, Rebecca has worked with many organizations and offices on Capitol Hill. Her healthcare work includes rallies, protests, press conferences, lobbying, and conventions. Most notable, she told her and Charlie’s story at the introduction of Senator Sanders’ Medicare For All Act of 2017 and testified before the House Ways and Means Committee hearing on Pathways to Universal Coverage in June 2019.

Wood and her daughter moved to Massachusetts in 2019. Experiences with public education and food insecurity motivated her to work in those areas as well, including the successful push for universal school meals in Massachusetts.

Rebecca was recognized for her effective advocacy in 2017 by The ARC of Virginia as a Catalyst For Change and was the 2019 R. Ann Meyers Distinguished Social Work Alumni Award recipient.

Currently, Ms. Wood is a 2L Public Interest Law Fellow at the University of Massachusetts School of Law. She was a 2024 Rappaport Fellow in Law and Public Policy and the president of the UMass Law NLG chapter.