A number of socially transformative implications of connecting teacher education with urban schools and communities have been documented, including: (1) building trust with local communities; (2) creating a greater commitment to community through service learning; (3) preparing culturally responsive future teachers who are more effective when working with community members to support classroom learning; (4) increasing the number of pre-service teachers who choose to teach in an urban low income or diverse school and are more likely to continue teaching in an urban school; (5) participating in community organizing; and (6) transforming the educational system. Despite the successes of connecting urban teacher education with school and community, these efforts have also been criticized for having a university-led focus. There is often an inequality of roles, with university programs and faculty setting the tone for interactions. Even when there are multi-leveled groups that involve university, schools, community members, and community groups and agencies in the discussions, it is often the university that provides the impetus and expertise to initiate change, not the community's own authentic efforts at change. To be a more meaningful part of the commitment to the development of teachers who are more authentically connected to community, teacher education programs must respond by transforming their focus and strategies to work more intimately with their urban communities and community-based organizations. In so doing, urban teacher education can move toward a more democratic form of education with input from all involved. This article presents one such urban teacher education program, framed by theories of community strengths, presence, trust, and critical identity theory. (Contains 1 table.)