This article examines the impact of teacher education program courses on candidates’ perceptions of urban communities and urban teaching. The results reveal that candidates shared many common perceptions of urban communities and perceptions of teaching in urban schools, such as: understanding and appreciation for community agencies, Changed perception of families including a new understanding of self and others, new understanding of community. The findings of this study show that carefully-designed, non-school experiences in teacher education can have significant impact on the preparation of urban teachers.