It became apparent to the officers of the Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) that youth who lived in the Weed and Seed neighborhoods needed early intervention to counter the growing problem of drug abuse, gang indoctrination, and negative peer pressure. Weed and Seed is a federally funded program designed to "weed" out crime and drugs in poor neighborhoods and "seed" positive programs and community development. TPD identified three target neighborhoods in 1996, when the Weed and Seed program was initiated. The Drug Education for Youth (Defy) program was launched as a component of Weed and Seed. Defy is derived from a program adopted by the Department of the Navy 11 years ago and subsequently incorporated into the Weed and Seed Program. The TPD customized the program to its target neighborhoods. Defy targets children 9-12 years with a 10-month program that fosters positive relationships between youth and adult role models, delivers life-skills training, and deters drug use and gang involvement. It also cultivates teamwork, conflict resolution, and decisionmaking. The first phase of the two-phase program is a summer leadership camp where children and adult mentors spend a week together building relationships, going on field trips, and discussing drug use and gang involvement while developing self-management skills. In phase two, the children meet twice a month with their assigned mentors to deal with specific issues of daily living. Upon completion of the program, children are referred to follow-up programs either at school or in the community.