The intersection of Jane St. and Finch Ave. W., at the centre of the Black Creek neighbourhood, could be anywhere: gas station, apartment towers, shopping plaza and convenience stores.

But under a new City of Toronto “equity score,” Black Creek is considered the least livable of Toronto’s 140 neighbourhoods, based on 15 criteria like employment, high school graduation rates, mortality, green space, walkability and the prevalence of diabetes.

A low score out of 100 means a high level of inequity, according to a staff report released Monday. The benchmark score was set at 42.89 and those falling below are now considered a “Neighbourhood Improvement Area.”

Black Creek falls the farthest with a score of 21.38. Nearly a quarter of its residents are on social assistance, a third are considered low income — nearly three times the city’s average — and high school graduation rates are low.

(Lawrence Park North had the highest neighbourhood rating in Toronto with 92.05.)

“When I looked at that list, I said, ‘What else is new?’ We’ve known this since the ’70s,” said Wanda MacNevin, director of programming at the Jane/Finch Community and Family Centre.

Few social services were included in the planning decades ago or added later when many buildings were absorbed into subsidized housing, she said.

Many of those services are now grassroots, resident-run programs with precarious funding for health, education, child care, legal clinics, settlement services, lunches for seniors and more, MacNevin said.

“We’ve got great residents who’ve come here from very challenging environments,” she said. “Considering what we lack in terms of resources, we manage. But it’s a struggle all the time.”

The 2011 census found 22,000 people living in the area bounded by Highway 400, Steeles Ave. W., Finch Ave. W. and Black Creek itself. The majority live in highrise apartments. Over half the residents speak another language at home, most commonly Vietnamese, Spanish, Italian, Tamil and Arabic.

“We’re a first settlement-type community. We have lots of new arrivals, lots of new immigrants, people coming here from all over the place. A hundred different languages spoken, lots of single-parent families, a heavy concentration of (public) housing, lots of poverty, ” said Anthony Perruzza, the area councillor and chair of the community development committee that will consider the staff report next week.

The Spadina subway extension, which will run nearby with a station at Jane St. and Steeles Ave. W., will bring new business and development to the area and help move residents to jobs elsewhere, Perruzza said.

Toronto’s largest urban farm is located near Jane and Steeles: 2.8 hectares of farmland run by 80 staff and volunteers, many of whom live in the Black Creek area, and York University is nearby with students and staff who participate in research and local programming.

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Crime rates are not included in the city’s new metric, but “Jane and Finch” has become shorthand for illegal activity. There were seven homicides in 31 Division last year, and four of those — all males in their teens — were shot within blocks of the intersection.

But safety has improved, along with opportunities for young people, said Chris Penrose of Success Beyond Limits, a mentoring and education program.

“I get concerned about this easy narrative to fall into, this ‘neglected community.’ In many ways it’s thriving but there are critical gaps.”

During March break, 60 students are doing career workshops and touring places like Mozilla, TD Bank and the CBC to explore career avenues.

Kareem Bennett, 18, Aliyah-Suviana Burey, 18, Destiny Henry, 18, and Akifa Forde, 19, grew up in Jane-Finch. They want to set an example for their younger counterparts and move beyond the guns and gangs stereotype.

“Even though a lot of people in society look down on these people, I look up to those people to make me change,” Forde said. “People can grow into those labels or they cannot grow into those labels.”

Mentoring helps stop young people from emulating the criminal lifestyle, said Bennett, who is choosing between two colleges for next fall.

It “gives you a chance to actually be yourself and not fall into the stereotype, and brainstorm on what the future looks like for you.”

By the numbers

29.1% Residents on social assistance. City benchmark for high-need area: 15.1%

40.9% Persons age 26-65 with post-secondary degree. Benchmark: 62%

45% Eligible voters who voted in last election. Benchmark: 41.4%

16.8 Average number of meeting places within 10-minute walk of each block. Benchmark: 23

228. 3 Number of deaths under age 75, per 100,000 people 75 and under. Benchmark: 271.4