In 2020, she ran for city council in her town of Wauwatosa, Wis., and won, and she has been able to use her master’s in public policy and her work experience in a volatile year that saw much civil unrest. But O’Reilly, 44, is earning less than she did before at $400 a month, and she just took on 15 hours a week at another nonprofit. But with the uncertainty of covid exposures and quarantines affecting her children, she doesn’t think she can work full-time until the situation stabilizes.