It's official - the community loosely labeled Jane-Finch tops the list of three communities in need of a massive anti-gang intervention that will kick off this summer.Jane-Finch - which for the purposes of the intervention stretches from Sheppard Avenue to Steeles Avenue and the Humber River to Black Creek - will join the communities of Jamestown and Weston Mt. St. Dennis as sites for a $5-million implementation of the federally funded Toronto Youth Gang Prevention Pilot Project this summer.
Taking place over three years, the project will target 300 young people at risk of being drawn into gangs.
The young people between the ages of 13 and 24 will be afforded assistance in a variety of areas: anti-violence counseling, job-skill counseling and the avoidance of drug abuse.
While organizers haven't yet determined exactly what form that intervention will take, Dr. Scot Wortley, a University of Toronto criminologist, assured the city's community services and recreation committee that the program would be tailored as closely to the needs of individuals as possible - and measurements of success for the intervention worth approximately $17,000 per young person would also be comprehensive.
"We're going to be measuring a number of different things and strategies," he said. "We will be looking at, with the assistance of the Toronto Police Service, the impact the program has had before and after implementation. We'll be looking at violence data, crime data for the community before the program even existed and determining whether it's impacting our aggregate statistics."
The project had to gather some of that data just to determine where the money would be best spent. Reviewing statistics including the numbers of shootings, calls for police service, robberies, unemployment and income levels, the organizers came up with a youth crime index.
That index showed that the city's north-west was by far the most in need, with Jane-Finch at the top of the needs scale.
Councillors representing the large area supported the program - but not without some skepticism.
Ward 7 (York West) Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti said the group will have a hard time turning young people away from gangs without addressing what he described as irrevocably bad situations in homes.
"Youth there are angry," he said. "They've been brought up in an angry atmosphere. In Jane-Finch, they're angry at their socio-economic situation, they're angry at their family. Family situations have a lot to do with what's happening. That's something we don't want to learn about."
Mammoliti wanted to see the program take a critical look at the way young people are being raised - and also wanted to make sure interventions happened in the early hours of the morning, when most gang activity occurs.
Ward 8 (York West) Councillor Anthony Perruzza agreed with Mammoliti that workers will have a difficult time reaching young people - and will require intervention workers who have a special touch.
"Whoever it is you hire is going to have to walk into a townhouse complex - a maze of streets and laneways - find a makeshift tent in the back where there are a bunch of kids sitting around - where some of these kids have a propensity toward violence," he said.
"They'll be painting a bulls-eye on their back. Maybe that's what has to take place. But you'll need a real character."
Meanwhile, Raymond Cho, who represents the Scarborough community of Malvern in his Ward 42 (Scarborough-Rouge River) ward, tried to suggest that some of the funding be spread in the east - despite the fact that he was glad to see Malvern and other Scarborough neighbourhoods fare well according to the youth crime index
"According to reports, Malvern is one of the safest areas in Toronto although there's some problems with perception," he said. "On the other hand, when I read this report, it's not just a pilot project - young people and families are actually benefitting. If they're not in the area they're not going to benefit."
Cho tried to convince the committee to spread some money to the east. But the committee demurred, and sent staff back to work to hone the interventions for the west end pilot project.