This article examines community engagement as a strategy for reducing social vices among the youths in communities in Nigeria. Social vices which have eaten through the fiber of people’s characters and behaviours, especially among the young generation pose a greater threat to the safety of lives and properties of people in the communities. Unfortunately, social vices are of greater harm to the perpetrators as they become outlaws haunted by authorities eventually leading to waste of life. Social vices can be attributed to the collapse of social institutions such as families, schools, and faith-based organisations in upholding and promoting moral values and virtues in the community coupled with the challenges of bad governance and poor leadership. To salvage the dire situation, community engagement is critical and should be embraced by communities. Such engagement involves all concerned stakeholders in the fight against social vices in the communities. Community engagement stresses togetherness, commitment, community consensus, shared values, and interest to achieve a common goal and tackle developmental challenges. The indices and principles of community engagement discussed in this article offer strategies for strengthening and tackling social vices in the communities. Nigerian communities and the young generation need to embrace community engagement as a strategy to combat social vices through collective efforts and collaborations. Social institutions should also work in synergy with the community members to promote community engagement, mobilisation, good value system and common interest to ameliorate social vices within the communities.