A community is only as strong as its youngest members. Young people impact a community in many ways and in a much broader aspect. They are the ones who play in the street and represent the neighborhood, but they are also the future of the community and society as a whole. It is the responsibility of older generations to do their best to provide the best resources to ensure that young people become respectful and responsible members of society. There is a significant drug problem among today's youth that leads to drug-related crimes and can be reduced with the right tools. Among the three proposed courses of action, one appears to be the most beneficial not only for putting an end to crime but also for preparing today's youth to become tomorrow's leaders. By helping to fund several youth literacy programs, they will be less likely to get involved with drugs and will prepare them for success in their lives. While there is evidence to support either proposition, literacy will be best suited and impact the greatest number of students. Learning to read and write is a basic skill that is used in daily life and to such an extent that it is almost difficult to function. without. People read a lot of things throughout the day; everything from the menu to the signage along the road. If it is possible to live without knowing how to read and write, it is not possible to succeed. Better literacy skills will be used not only to succeed in school, but also to obtain well-paying jobs leading to a good life. According to LA Curtis, these types of programs, which empower young people, "are more successful in reducing crime than traditional community crime prevention." (2)...... middle of document ...... the drug era and is not effective in trying to prevent crimes. While all of the proposals would help the community in their own way, the literacy program would help much more than just protect the neighborhood. This will become a lifelong skill that will help today's youth find jobs and live a good life. The DARE program is a good idea but still needs to be refined in order to do the most good for a community since it has little impact on today's youth. A monitoring program would help prevent drug crimes in some neighborhoods, but it wouldn't stop them from happening. It would instead push them towards different regions which will soon experience the same problems. Literacy also has the greatest reach with eight schools and will be able to have the strongest possible impact on young people and the community..