The Bensonhurst Council of Jewish Organizations (Bensonhurst COJO) established over fifty years ago, is one of the oldest Jewish Community Councils in the New York Metropolitan area. We were incorporated in 1974 and received our 501(c)(3) status from the IRS in 2002. As a registered charity copies of our financial information is on file with the New York State Attorney General.

Throughout the years, our mission has remained constant yet our functions evolve in order to meet the varying needs of the Bensonhurst Jewish community. Since our incorporation in 1974, Bensonhurst COJO addresses itself to the growing elderly and immigrant populations residing in the neighborhood, by providing social services and political advocacy on its behalf.

Bensonhurst COJO is the major community-relations advocate for the Bensonhurst Jewish Community. We publish quarterly newsletters to inform the community of upcoming events and the programs that we operate. We work in collaboration with the Police Department, Community Board 11, other community councils and organizations, both Jewish and Non-Jewish, to improve the quality of life in the community, to combat anti-Semitism and to achieve multi-racial and multi-ethnic harmony in the Bensonhurst community. We outreach to the full spectrum of local agencies and elected officials in the Bensonhurst area, throughout Brooklyn and New York City on issues of joint concern in support of bridge-building.

Bensonhurst COJO is a member organization of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, and UJA- Federation NY. Shirley Fineman, Executive Director, of Bensonhurst COJO, is secretary of Community Board 11, and is on the Coney Island Hospital community committee, and the Southern Brooklyn Health Coalition committee.