The Action Mapping Project (AMP) is a youth-oriented participatory action project that conducts research and education programs in high schools and middle schools in Tacoma, Washington. AMP uses participatory community mapping to generate new forms of data and conducts educational programs with high school students that center on the use of GIS (geographic information systems) to analyze data and produce maps of local knowledge to influence public policy in underserved neighborhoods. In this article, AMP's educational program (AMP Centers) is used as a case study of how principles of action research and critical education can be placed into practice.