Staff & Board

Betsy Crites, Executive Director & Board Member

director@ncpeaceaction.org | (919)381-5969

Betsy’s career began in Latin America as a college student in Peru, and later as a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras.  She and her and husband, Joe Moran, and their 2 children lived four years in Guatemala, where she worked as a public health educator.  In 1983, Betsy helped launch Witness for Peace, first as the Coordinator for Delegations to the war zones of Central America, and later as Executive Director.  In 2006 she toured India with Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP) and the next year signed on as the coordinator of NP’s Rapid Response Team in Guatemala, providing accompaniment for human rights defenders.  Betsy’s primary interests are nonviolence as taught by Gandhi and King, Buddhist philosophy and practice, the process of democratic social and economic change, and nonviolence education.

John Heuer, Chair & Board Member

Chair@ncpeaceaction.org

John was born in Detroit in 1946. His father had come back from service in the US Army, and the young family picked up stakes to move from their New Jersey home. His mother lost both of her brothers in WWII. The young veteran dad took his family to Presbyterian Church. He was a deacon at Calvin Presbyterian, and one of the leaders of the Northwest Churches United for Human Rights, a fellowship dedicated to ending Jim Crow in the racially divided city. Observing his father’s courageous stand for first class citizenship for African-Americans was a great inspiration for young John, one that he carries with him to this day.

More about John.

Joe Burton, Treasurer & Board Member

Treasurer@ncpeaceaction.org

Anne Cassebaum, Secretary & Board Member

Secretary@ncpeaceaction.org

Environmental, military and poverty issues all seem rooted together to me, so I look for ways to build a sustainable, green economy, to change the policies producing the American military empire and the wealth gap, and to bring people to the natural world in a way that makes them want to protect it. In NC Peace Action, these ideas come together as well as some inspiring people; friends and I are working to build a local chapter in Alamance County. My book, Down Along the Haw: The Story of a North Carolina River (McFarland) was just published, and I serve on the Haw River Assembly Board. Targeting and deportation of undocumented people in my county has led me to be active on the Human Relations Council and Fairness Alamance. I’ve retired from teaching writing, environmental literature and non-violence studies at Elon University, but still enjoy working with students going after their GED. My husband, son and daughter, their partners, and six grandchildren all live in Alamance County.

Mia Austin-Scoggins, Media Coordinator & Board Member

Media-Coordinator@ncpeaceaction.org

Mia Austin-Scoggins has been active in the peace & justice movement since the late 1960s, and she has shown a special dedication to the needs of veterans, especially those experiencing homelessness and other trauma. At the “MIC@50″ Conference, sponsored by Quaker House in January 2011, Mia spoke on the impact of the Military Industrial Complex on American veterans and the “extra casualties” (physical, mental and societal) beyond the names on memorials that are the haunting legacy of America’s involvement in the “business” of war. Mia is Vice President in Charge of Communications for the (Eisenhower) Chapter 157 of Veterans for Peace, and is Media Coordinator for NC Peace Action.

Kim Porter, Fundraising Chair & Board Member

 Rukiya Dillahunt, Board Member

Education, Labor and Peace Activist, Wake County educator for 33 years, retired Vice Principal, Member of Black Workers for Justice and Board Member of NC Peace Action.

 Rachael Bliss, Board Member & Asheville Coordinator

 Khalilah Sabra, Board Member

Sandy Irving, Board Member

Mimi Davis, Board Member

David Harris, Board Member

David Harris, our newest Board member, has been active in many organizations and campaigns over the years, including Chair of The Durham People’s Alliance (Group of 400 to 600 concern citizens about local, state, and national issues), and the Inter-Neighborhood Council (made up of 25 to 40 neighborhood/homeowner associations) concerned with local and state issues.  He is a graduate of NC Central University.  David has worked actively with the Durham Bring the War Dollars Home Campaign.

 Hank Elkins, Legislative Coordinator & Orange Co. Coordinator

Jenn MacCormack, Administrative Assistant

Jenn is Betsy’s administrative assistant. She manages NC Peace Action’s website and social media, email and membership lists, brochure and newsletter design and publication–and anything else that can make life better for NC Peace Action and its wonderful members. She studies Psychology, Anthropology & Linguistics at NC State University and helps research emotion socialization in children. Working for NC Peace Action is a gift in that it enables her to see first hand how real people can make real changes.