Bette Hoover (also known as Bette Rainbow Hoover) has taken a stand for peace with justice for many decades. Her nonviolent activism has taken her to Israel, Nicaragua, East Africa, Washington, DC and many other places far from her Lancaster County, PA birthplace.

She lived and worked on a collective settlement in Northern Galilee, Israel, where her living room frequently was the site of lively dialogue among her Jewish Israeli and Arab Israeli friends and neighbors.

Upon her return to the States, she became active in the National Organization for Women as an officer and board member. She organized CROP walks for hunger and marches for peace. In the 80's she founded a center for solidarity and assistance for refugees from the civil wars in Central America www.casademaryland.org.

For many years the Alternative to Violence Project benefitted from Bette's facilitation skills - both inside maximum security prisons and among inner city youth. As the director of the Washington, DC/MAR (Mid Atlantic Region) office of the American Friends Service Committee for more than a decade, Bette honed her skills as an innovative leader, organizer and facilitator. In the nation's capital, she was involved with the movement for democracy and Statehood where there is still "taxation without representation".

Bette works with the Mediation and Conflict Resolution Center (MCRC) at Howard Community College in Columbia, MD, as a mediator and adjunct instructor. She recently trained administrators and staff of the Howard County Public Schools in a program of Restorative Dialogue Circles that is being introduced in the 2007-08 school year. Its' goals are to strengthen the school community by using restorative methods of conflict resolution and prevention.

As a member of Sandy Spring (Maryland) Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), Bette serves on committees and provides leadership. She is a student of indigenous practices and a participant and leader in the contemporary sweat lodge. Bette is, also, a registered nurse, massage therapist and practitioner of yoga.