Community based scientific monitoring is an increasingly important tool that can be used to understand the rapid onset of changes in freshwater ecosystems as a result of climate change and human activity. Willistown Conservation Trust (WCT), Darby Creek Valley Association, and Stroud Water Research Center partnered to design a high frequency community monitoring project where residents of the Darby Creek watershed, a small tributary to the Delaware River in southeastern Pennsylvania, USA, were trained (via in-person and virtual events, easy-access written protocols, video tutorials, and an interactive website database) on data collection including conductivity, pH, nitrate/nitrite, chloride, water temperature, and detailed photos. Since March 2021, monitoring visits are conducted every four weeks to capture possible rapid fluctuation of conditions in small order streams. Bi-monthly email updates provide continued education and discussion topics, as well as new opportunities for advocacy, engagement, and additional monitoring efforts. Volunteers have gone beyond the requirements of the program, recruiting other volunteers, attending further educational events and making long term changes to their properties that will benefit the health of the waterway (i.e. planting native plants, adjusting mowing regimes, etc). Although increasing our understanding of the health of Darby Creek through Community Science was the initial goal, training, and then trusting, the volunteers to do the work has resulted in empowered grassroots behavioral changes and improved community engagement in support of watershed health. Data collection methods and training approaches used in this project have improved our ability to gather accurate informative data on this watershed, including the documentation of a novel population of freshwater mussels (Unionidae), and have served as a template for other local organizations to use in building their capacity to engage the community. Training not only covered the scientific data and sample collection procedures, but connected residents to the watershed as a resource and increased scientific literacy within the community.