Preparing teachers to be civic educators is especially critical in urban schools serving marginalized populations. This paper proposal describes the use of a highly interactive, student-centered, and social justice-oriented teaching strategy -- youth participatory action research (YPAR) -- to support new urban teachers working at all grades level and subject areas in developing civic teaching competencies. This paper provides an analysis of seven years of data collected from an innovative field experience in an urban teacher education program in which student teachers lead elementary, middle and high school students in youth participatory action projects. This research considers the potential for YPAR to serve as part of the preparation of urban teachers to be transformative civic educators.