Hi Tracy, Yes there are a couple of ways to achieve this. The best would be to use the Pro tab > Levels tool. Grab the left slider above the Apply button (the dark slider below 0) and drag it to the right until the background reaches the desired lightness.
Another technique would be to use the Basic Edits tab > Exposure tool and increase the Exposure slider until the lightness level looks right. The levels technique is probably generally superior though, as too much exposure can leave an undesirable pixelated effect.