Vice President – Community Equity
[email protected]
Rebecca joined Dogwood Health Trust in August 2021 as a Program Officer for Equity and was promoted to Vice President for Community Equity in September 2023.
Most recently, Rebecca served with Buncombe County Health and Human Services and Buncombe County Government. While there, she managed the Isaac Coleman Economic Community Investment grant, which targeted a $1.5 million investment in communities working to champion equitable opportunity. She also developed the Isaac Coleman Learning Collaborative, cultivating trust, authenticity, and inclusion to support innovative, community-driven solutions. Prior to her work at Buncombe County, she served with the Asheville Housing Authority, working one-on-one on the ground with Asheville’s underserved communities facing varied socioeconomic barriers, which granted an intimate view of institutional and structural drivers of inequity. During this time, she also represented the Housing Authority on Asheville’s team for Invest Health: Strategies for Healthier Cities, a national convening of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Reinvestment Fund. Through Invest Health, Rebecca co-created a community-led development process for equitable health and well-being infrastructure.
Rebecca understands that effective contribution requires that we embrace and live into the unique gifts, knowledge, and insight that can’t be obtained through higher education alone – but through the wisdom of lived experience and a deeper understanding of the layered reality that many people in our community are navigating daily. She prides herself on using this skillset to inform the lens through which she views the work, the world, and especially our community. As a former small business owner, her approach to systemic change is entrepreneurial, amplifying the power of community-driven, novel, innovative ideas to eradicate long-standing problems.
Rebecca holds a Bachelor of Arts in Community Planning and Legal Advocacy from UMASS Boston and a Master’s in Public Health from the Gillings School of Global Public Health at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Address:
890 Hendersonville Rd
Asheville, NC 28803
Mailing:
890 Hendersonville Rd
Asheville, NC 28803
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Support programs and networks that reduce deaths, treat addiction, and prevent first use
Help reduce disparities based on race, location, education and income factors
Invest in integrated heath care with seamless connections to supportive services
Support communities that promote healthy living and resiliency and help mitigate the impact of trauma, isolation and stress on individuals and families, especially those experiencing poverty
Support a well-funded, sustainable, competitive entrepreneur and small business ecosystem throughout the region
Help build a regional economic ecosystem that supports increased creation/retention of jobs and business ownership
Help build a skilled workforce with the knowledge and technical abilities to excel in a wide range of industry employment opportunities that provide a competitive, sustainable wage
Source, analyze and share a comprehensive, county-by-county data set that paints a full picture of work readiness, economic development and entrepreneurial needs and opportunities specific to Western North Carolina
Work in tandem with Economic Opportunity Strategic Priority to invest in career readiness at the community college and university levels
Support K-12 learning experiences with the resources and sustainability to provide an excellent academic and social-emotional education, so that all students graduate ready for college or career
Invest in an improved early childhood education ecosystem with the resources and sustainability to provide developmentally appropriate, affordable and accessible education and care to support ages birth to five, so that all children in WNC enter kindergarten ready to learn
Source, analyze and share a comprehensive set of publicly available data that provides a regularly updated, county-by-county picture of access, workforce and student outcomes in early childhood education and K-12 education specific to Western North Carolina
Loans, guarantees, and other financial tools to leverage funding opportunities
Increase affordable housing for lowest-income individuals and families
Support age-appropriate resources in affordable and workforce units, rental and owned
Invest in housing with sustainable supports for physical and mental health and wellbeing
Support healthy and safe revitalizations that work against displacement and gentrification, preserve home ownership and create generational wealth.