In 1992, the Blue Ridge Area Health Education Center (AHEC) was incorporated by local community learders to address the availability and distribution of health care providers in its 22 county and 7 city region. Health care workers are in short supply in 19 of Blue Ridge AHEC's rural communities, which is compounded by a growing demand for health care services. To help these underserved communitites attract and produce more health care professionals, the Blue Ridge AHEC engages in a wide array of education-based activites that range from summer health careers camps to clinical traning opportunities for health professions students in community-based clinics to providing educational resources for health care and human services professionals. Acitivites supported by the Blue Ridge AHEC help communites meet growing health care needs now and for the future.