Rebecca Morley
FOUNDER and CEO
Rebecca Morley is a passionate advocate for safe, healthy, and vibrant communities – and the opportunities that these places offer America’s children and families. A seasoned expert in public health and in housing, Rebecca brings together individuals and organizations from the fields of housing, community development, and advocacy, to facilitate and catalyze large-scale changes to the places people live.
A native of Rochester New York, Rebecca saw the impact of a struggling economy, segregated neighborhoods, unhealthy housing, and under-resourced schools on the health and success of young children. She started her career fighting to eliminate childhood lead poisoning and for 20 years has led national initiatives to improve the quality of the nation’s housing and communities. Before launching her consulting practice, Rebecca was the Director of the Health Impact Project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts focused on creating healthier more equitable communities through Health Impact Assessment and related tools. While at Pew, she launched a health equity funding initiative focused on southern and Appalachian states and developed a comprehensive report on policies to prevent and respond to childhood lead exposure.
“Rebecca is a dynamic and thoughtful leader in the world of health and housing.”
Rebecca was director of the National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH) between 2002 and 2014, where she led efforts to create safer and healthier environments for all people, with a special focus on children and communities that are disproportionately burdened by environmental public health risks. She led NCHH’s recovery work in the Gulf Coast region following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and launched the National Safe and Healthy Housing Coalition. Rebecca also worked on environmental health issues for U.S. Public Interest Research Group, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, ICF Consulting and as a legislative fellow in the United States Senate.
Her publications include the book "Healthy & Safe Homes: Research, Practice, and Policy." She holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science from Nazareth College of Rochester and a master’s degree in public policy from the Georgia Institute of Technology. As a graduate of Achieving Excellence, a joint leadership program of NeighborWorks America and Harvard University, she is a skilled in collaborative leadership and in designing programs to achieve measurable outcomes.
