This Program Focus discusses the strategies of the Beacon Community Center Program (the Beacons), the history of its crime prevention programs, and general operations. It focuses on the activities of one particular program, Red Hook in Brooklyn (New York City), before analyzing the Beacons' potential for preventing crime. A core concept of the Beacons is that efforts to prevent violence, drug abuse, and other social problems must simultaneously address a wide range of critical needs of at-risk groups rather than merely provide isolated interventions. A primary mission of the 37 Beacons is to give urban residents, especially youth, the tools to help them avoid crime and violence and to solve community problems. Among the services provided are mentoring, tutoring, employment training and counseling, and cultural and recreational activities. The Beacons convert local school buildings into active community centers after school, on weekends, and in the summers. A close look at the Red Hook program illustrates that the school-based approach has the potential to strengthen protective factors and reduce risk factors through local control, a comprehensive approach, emphasis on personal responsibility, high tangibility, and the capacity to consider short-term and long-term responses. (SLD)