As urban centers grow and diversify, public administrators and policymakers face increasingly complex challenges. Traditional, top-down governance approaches often fail to incorporate residents’ lived experiences, local knowledge, and voices—particularly those from marginalized communities—resulting in policies and programs that may not effectively address community needs. Community-engaged qualitative research can be an alternative that involves community members in creating knowledge, thereby informing urban governance and public management with richer, contextually grounded insights. Drawing on interdisciplinary literature and examples from the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) region, this discussion explores how community-engaged qualitative methods can enhance policy outcomes, build trust, improve legitimacy, and foster capacity for collective action. The inquiry covers theoretical and conceptual foundations, methodological approaches, case illustrations, and policy implications. Community-engaged research emerges as a vital tool for responsive, equitable, and sustainable urban governance by demonstrating the value of participatory inquiry and robust qualitative methods.