Drawing on interview data collected as part of a qualitative study among thirty-two local educators and community advocates in the borderlands context of the Lower Rio Grande Valley (RGV), we inquire about the fundamental characteristics of being a community-engaged teacher for sustainable and equitable Latinx student teaching and learning. The ultimate purpose is to collectively develop a model of community-engaged pedagogy that will bridge school and university cultures. Based on our findings, a community-engaged teacher preparation approach should prioritize that teacher candidates can establish rapport and relationship with students and their families; grapple with the contradictions entrenched in a prevalent deficit model, and embrace advocacy in terms of valuing bilingualism, critically curtailing biases, and setting high expectations for students.