The methodology rests on the concept of risk, which is central to the field of epidemiology. Risk can be defined as the probability of an event occurring in a population of interest. If drug prevention and intervention programs are to be successful, they must be targeted at high-risk population groups. The proposed strategy uses a two-step, multilevel, multivariate analysis to estimate high-risk population groups in high-risk geographic areas. It requires the use of both individual data obtained through community surveys and general data obtained from the Census Bureau or from local government reports. The successful use of this approach could result in better data for decisionmakers as they make judgments about developing intervention programs.