Kobby Hoffman is a long-time member of the National Organization for Women (NOW) having joined the Charlottesville NOW chapter in 1986. Currently, she serves on local, Virginia and National boards. Ms. Hoffman also serves on the Virginia NOW Political Action Committee (PAC). She is the immediate past President of the Charlottesville NOW Chapter and current Virginia NOW Executive Vice President (EVP) as well as the National NOW Eastern District Representative for eight states including Delaware, District of Columbia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia. She serves on National NOW committees among them Audit and ERA Committees; she is the chair for the latter working on constitutional equality. Previously, she was appointed as chairs for the Budget and a Grievance Committees and was also on the Investment Committee.

Ms. Hoffman has had the privilege of working on the national, state and local levels to achieve the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) during which ratification was achieved on January 27, 2020 when Virginia became the 38^th and final state of the three quarters needed under Article 5 of the U.S. Constitution. Though fully ratified, the 28^th Amendment (ERA) remains to be certified and published. In the meantime, the implementation process can begin in the states. To that end, the Virginia NOW Law Audit Project’s (VLAP) objective is to review state laws and recommend they be gender and sex neutral.

In 1989, Ms. Hoffman started the Charlottesville “Take Back the Night” (TBTN) Rally, March and Vigil with NOW members. As a result, two college students and a male co-worker helped achieve the creation of a victim witness coordinator position for the city. TBTN continues today as a weeklong community event held at the University of Virginia.

Ms. Hoffman founded the Blue Ridge Abortion Fund thirty-three years ago by, one day, putting out a pickle jar with another NOW member at the county fair to help a woman in need of funds for an abortion. To empower others to exercise their then constitutional rights, she opened a bank account, answered calls, and served as president of the Fund many times during its first 25 years in operation; she was on the Board until 2020. The Fund operated under Charlottesville NOW until 2009 when it was incorporated as an independent 501(c)(3) organization. Annually, the Fund offers financial and logistical support to as more than two thousand people.

Ms. Hoffman has a bachelor’s degree in economics from St. Lawrence University and a master’s in urban and environmental planning from the University of Virginia. She was Senior Planner for the Thomas Jefferson Planning District for one city and five counties to improve communities. She wrote county housing strategy, helped found the Housing Foundation, wrote, and implemented grants. She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) and is a Certified Research Administrator (CRA). She served on the Society of Research Administrators International Board and as President of the Education Division for three thousand institutions. Presently, she works as a Grants and Contracts Administrator for a Ryan White HIV/AIDS program. She is also Chair of the Benevolence Committee at Westminster Presbyterian Church. She was a single parent of two now independent, productive adults, but as they were growing up she helped found a “Before and After Middle School” program that continues today as a successful part of the Boys and Girls Club. Ms. Hoffman has been an election official for a dozen years. Importantly, she volunteers to elect “equality candidates” to offices at all levels.