Jane Reffelt

American, Lacrosse

Jane Reffelt (she/her/hers), the New York native, joined Grassroots Health in January 2022 fell in love with the organization’s mission of promoting health equity, and hasn’t looked back since. She recently graduated from American University with a BA in Interdisciplinary Studies: Communications, Legal Institutions, Economics, And Government and a BA in Justice and Law with a concentration in Criminology. Jane is currently working on her Masters of Public Administration with a concentration in Applied Politics at American University where she is a member of the women’s lacrosse team. Committed to pursuing both of her passions, Jane began splitting time as a Training Fellow with Grassroots Health and as a Judicial Intern for the Honorable Judge Del Pino at Montgomery County District Court in Maryland during the Summer of 2022. Since then, Jane has taken on the role of one of the primary recruiters of American University athletes with the goal of growing the university’s volunteer base. She has gone from “the lone volunteer of AU” to training over 40 AU athletes this past year! Though Jane did not become a member of the Grassroots Health family until her junior year, her impact has been immediate, logging over 100 service hours in the past year and volunteering in multiple DC public charter middle schools. She is incredibly thankful for the opportunity to connect with DC youth and community members on a regular basis and strives to be a role model for both the students she works with and fellow athletes.

Janye (JON-YE), never Jane, tends to be rather serious in her day-to-day life. She enjoys lists and detailed plans and shudders at the thought of being late. However, Grassroots Health unlocks Janye’s inner child, and she can often be found right in the middle of whatever PE game is being played. Whether it’s schooling her eighth graders in 3v 3 basketball at Perry Street Prep or playing center during Grassroots Health’s game, “Man Down Man Down” flag football, at Center City Brightwood, Janye is always in on the action. Something else that Janye loves dearly is reading! She is well versed in the scholarly literature of bell hooks and Betty Friedan (if anyone wants to talk Feminist Theory hit her up!) but equally loves all fantasy/romance novels and therefore idolizes Sarah J Maas.