This paper will outline the strategy developed in Phoenix to authentically involve youth in community problem solving by providing ArcView GIS training to teachers and a service learning curriculum entitled AuThenTiCITY. AuThenTiCITY is divided into four modules: Community Discovery, Community Research, Community Action, and Community Power. Students explore their perceptions about their community and refine their perceptions into hunches and a hypothesis from which a research project is developed. After their research is conducted they develop strategies to effect change in their community or neighborhood by presenting their findings to policy makers, government and community leaders, and their own neighborhood. GIS is an integral part of their research. Teachers are provided with a basemap of Phoenix on CD-ROM with selected coverages. This project has been developed in partnership with AT&T and Esri.