The JCCGCI operates more than two dozen social, educational and vocational services — like adult literacy programs, transportation shuttles, internship placement services, Holocaust Survivor case management and more — taking them on as one of the longest functioning social-welfare driven community organizations in the neighborhood, Weiner said. Founded in 1973 to foster neighborhood stabilization for low-income residents of Southern Brooklyn, many of its patrons are not Jewish.

“We believe that a caring Jewish social service system should assure that the local health, security and human service needs of both the Jewish and broader community are addressed effectively and efficiently and bring together the diverse populations and institutions of the community,” Weiner added.

The JCCGCI receives federal, state and local funding for its programs, as well as funding from both non-Jewish and Jewish philanthropies, including UJA-Federation. (UJA-Federation is a funder of 70 Faces Media, the New York Jewish Week’s parent company.) It is often sought out for its expertise on social services and community initiatives in Southern Brooklyn, Weiner said.

This is why, in 2015, when then City Council member Mark Treyger was able to secure $250,000 for a new community anti-violence initiative that would help address crime in Coney Island and fulfill other unmet needs in the community, he trusted Weiner to manage it.

Weiner, in turn, enlisted Scott, whom he knew as “one of the pioneers in bringing Cure Violence to New York,” through several community initiatives, including an organization called Save Our Streets.

Operation H.O.O.D. was officially founded in early 2016. By October, Coney Island was celebrating more than six months without a shooting, a feat that has now been accomplished several times over. Operation H.O.O.D. also operates as a Crisis Management System site for Coney Island as part of New York City’s Office to Prevent of Gun Violence. According to the city’s website, there was a 40% reduction in shootings from 2010-2019 due, in part, to the existence and funding of CMS sites like Operation H.O.O.D.

Now, with 27 team members and a budget that continues to grow, Scott still feels there aren’t enough people to do all the work that needs to be done in Coney Island and neighboring communities — even with members on call 24 hours a day.

Oftentimes, Scott said, the staff of Operation H.O.O.D. — who are trained in crisis management — are called to the scene of a shooting or a stabbing before the police (“nobody wants to deal with the police being there,” he said).

At scenes of shootings, where they are unarmed, or sometimes even at the hospital with the victim, they reason with both the assailant and the victims, talking them down from retribution — or from anger and from fear, which Scott said is what fuels much of the violence and crime in these communities, something he learned from experience growing up in Brownsville, Brooklyn.

“We’re trying to pull you up from the streets, at least to the sidewalk. Everybody is a work in progress,” Scott said. “We try to utilize fear as a conduit for something positive. Just focus on staying on the sidewalk.”

The majority of the staff at Operation H.O.O.D. grew up in the neighborhood or in other nearby areas of Brooklyn, have been involved in the criminal justice system at some point in their lives and are now using that experience to motivate at-risk youth from taking the same path, making them “Credible Messengers.”

“We see ourselves as people that have been there, that have seen a lot. We don’t want these kids to go to the same places we have been,” Scott said.

“I’m on this Earth for a reason. I do it all for the kids.” said Operation H.O.O.D. staff member Samuel Zulueta, who runs kickboxing classes, coaches a football team, does personal training, and is one of the only members on staff who hasn’t been in prison. Zulueta is the youngest member on staff, having joined the team around two months ago, he said.

“The kids are everything,” he added. “They deserve to be kids.”