I know it's a generic title, but my question is specific. I think it will boil down to a question of practice. So, I have the following code: public class Component : UIElement { public Component() { this.InputBindings.Add(new MouseBinding(SomeCommandProperty, new MouseGesture(MouseAction.LeftClick))); } } I could easily aggregate the ViewModel that owns SomeCommandProperty into the Component class, but I'm currently waiving that option assuming there is another way. Component is a child of ComponentCollection which is child of a Grid which DataContext is the ViewModel. ComponentCollection as the name suggests contains a collection of Components. <Grid Name="myGrid"> <someNamespace:ComponentCollection x:Name="componentCollection"/> </Grid> It's the same scenario as the XAML below, but with TextBlock. I guess I'm trying to replicate what's being done in the XAML below programatically. Again, Component's top most ancestor's DataContext is set to ViewModel. <Grid Name="myGrid"> <TextBlock Text="SomeText"> <TextBlock.InputBindings> <MouseBinding Command="{Binding SomeCommandProperty}" MouseAction="LeftClick" /> </TextBlock.InputBindings> </TextBlock> </Grid> Update 1 Sorry, I'm unable to comment because I lack the reputation points. Basically, I have a custom control which inherit from a Panel which children are a collection of Component. It's not a hack, like I've mentioned, I could directly have access to SomeCommandProperty If I aggregate the ViewModel into Component. Doing so, however, feels icky. That is, having direct access to ViewModel from a Model. I guess the question I'm asking is. Given the situation that Component's parent UIElement's DataContext is set to ViewModel, is it possible to access SomeCommandProperty without Component owning a reference to the ViewModel that owns SomeCommandProperty? Programatically, that is. Using ItemsControl doesn't change the fact that I still need to bind SomeCommandProperty to each Items.