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A Legacy of Leadership

Our History

Choices Global Institute of Healing and Education (501c3) was originally founded by Merle Hoffman in 2015 to help address the global need for education and services relating to women’s and girls’ health, well-being, and ability to thrive and fulfil their potential as full human beings. The history encompasses conducting research, publishing projects, and fostering educational initiatives, services, and programs both within the U.S.A. and globally.

Photo credit: Nirit Mitrany, originally published in Haaretz.

Projects in the U.S.A.

Developing and supporting health education and care was – and is today – at the core of our projects in the U.S.A. Through its community outreach programs, CGI developed initiatives to raise public awareness about women’s health issues and provided support to underserved women and their families. This included the creation of sexual health classes for women and men, from school age through the senior years. We worked closely with community organizations, schools, and women’s leadership programs on reproductive health issues, and sponsored classes and seminars, including those on Birth Control and Healthy Relationships, free of charge. We also promoted education projects that focused on sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV/AIDS. All this continues.

Our projects have included:

These included interactive classes on Birth Control and Family Planning, where participants viewed models of various forms of birth control and learned about the safety, reliability, and use of each; classes on Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) and HIV, including what they were and how to protect themselves; and Healthy Relationships, what they were and what they were not.

Choices Global Institute partnered with the Bella Abzug Leadership Institute (BALI) in presenting after-school sessions in selected high schools, as well as during BALI’s Summer Leadership Program. CGI funded education sessions at Choices Women’s Medical Center for interns at Feminist Press, Duke University, and women-focused programs at other organizations and institutions.

Choices Global Institute supported programs and events in keeping with its mission of addressing the global need for education and services relating to women’s and girls’ health, well-being, and ability to thrive and fulfill their potential as full human beings. This included the Feminist Press free-of-charge, day-long conference, STEMinism 2017: Math Is Your Friend, held at the CUNY Graduate Center in NYC on April 26, 2017 for NYC-area high school and college students “who represented the future of STEM research and innovation.”

CGI subsidized abortion care and other reproductive health services for low-income women at Choices Women’s Medical Center, helping ensure that women of all ages, backgrounds, and economic situations could access the services they needed.

At that time, New York was one of the few states without harmful abortion restrictions. CGI encouraged and supported efforts in other states and across the country to increase access to reproductive health, including education and advocacy.

Projects Globally

Internationally, our projects included supporting the research and analysis of feminist scholars to help immigrant and minority women who lived in shame- and honor-based cultures. We researched and published material about honor-based violence, including honor killing, and interviewed victims of such violence, with a special interest in identifying what may have accounted for a successful escape from honor-based violence. We hosted evenings, attended and presented at conferences, and appeared in the media to elevate understanding globally and strengthen women individually.

Our projects included CGI Advisor-in-Chief Dr. Phyllis Chesler’s continuing academic studies at Middle East Quarterly about honor killing, as well as a feminist analysis of the burqa and face veil. We consulted with feminists globally who worked in these areas and with those who were starting websites and social media campaigns to address such issues on every continent. CGI also undertook a publishing program, which included writing articles for selected venues and republishing pioneering feminist works with new Introductions and Study Guides for students, therapeutic practitioners, and diverse populations.

Our projects include:

The studies of CGI Advisor-in-Chief Dr. Phyllis Chesler at Middle East Quarterly about honor killing, and the publication of her collected writings on gender apartheid and honor killing (Transaction/Taylor and Francis).

Feminist analysis of the burqa and face veil, and consultation with feminists globally who worked in these areas and with those who were starting websites and social media campaigns to address such issues on every continent.

Dr. Chesler’s research and writing about the rescue of Yazidi and Christian sex slaves from ISIS, primarily undertaken by the Sister Hatune Dogan Foundation, and the sending of medical supplies to an orphanage in India operated by the Hatune Dogan Foundation.

Continuing reportage and analysis of the legendary and controversial struggle for Jewish women’s rights in Jerusalem — first covered in Issues Magazine in 1989–1990 — and the funding of the latest stages of this 28-year grassroots battle.

Project Kesher Russia teamed up with Choices to make women’s healthcare in Russia more responsive to the needs of women. PKR and Choices sought to improve women’s access to healthcare information, to address taboos that made it difficult for women to obtain accurate information and act on it, to maximize women’s choices in healthcare decision-making, and to increase the commitment of the Russian medical community to patient-focused healthcare.

Founded in 1989, Project Kesher (PK) supported independent, grassroots women’s organizations in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, and Israel. While initially founded to support the re-emergence of Jewish life post-Communism, the organization built a network of more than 180 Jewish women’s groups, 90+ interfaith coalitions, and 3,500 trained leaders who worked to build civil society and promote gender equality. PK invested in leadership training and the creation of a network that could quickly pilot and test programs identified by women at the grassroots level and replicate these programs at low cost through the use of technology, local support, volunteer engagement, partnerships, and strategic advocacy. PK had a series of signature initiatives, including programs that promoted women’s health.

In 2018–2019, Project Kesher Ukraine (PKU) brought its women’s health programs and a woman-centered approach to public radio in Ukraine through a $100,000 (CAD) grant from the Canadian government. Project Kesher Russia (PKR) was poised to take its women’s health initiatives to a new level and hoped to do so through this project. PKR developed the first interfaith women’s coalition in Russia, which had widespread support at the grassroots, NGO, and governmental levels.

As a feminist, volunteer-driven organization, leaders and activists donated nearly 200,000 hours per year to promote women’s economic empowerment, build interfaith coalitions to foster religious, racial, and ethnic tolerance, and advocate for social justice in the areas of women’s rights, women’s health, domestic violence, and human trafficking.