Using a critical brokerage perspective to advance theoretical insights in the development of a community university partnership and understanding of the organizational embeddedness of a community empowerment agency in Pittsburgh, PA, USA, this article suggests that partnerships between American universities and communities are perfect vehicles for envisioning engaged scholarship rooted in neighborhoods and communities. The article concludes that diversely positioned leaders and scholars in universities and schools, and indigenous leaders in the community, can learn from and apply principles of partnership and critical brokerage to work together to forward justice and change in their own neighborhoods and settings.