Does community-based research emphasize professional-level data gathering that can positively impact community members? This article explores this question through case studies from environmental education and history, and discovers that a positive answer rests on the skill level of and access to suitable resources. We argue that in order to produce high quality data that is useful to the public faculty must place student skill development at the core of their practice. To do otherwise may unwittingly exacerbate the problematic trend of youth disengagement.