A partnership between three public health departments and two institutions of higher education was established in the summer of 2001. Representatives from this partnership will discuss the process of assessing the need for increased educational opportunities for current and future professionals in Public Health. Identified gaps in knowledge and competency of the existing workforce were the catalyst for the development of an advisory board responding to educational needs. The initiative is driven by a community-academic partnership between university and public health leadership in Southwestern Ohio. Data reported in the Core Competencies for Public Health Professionals Report* and that which has been collected by a State of Ohio task force on performance standards in public health clearly demonstrates the need for increased community-based education. Additionally, data has been collected through a local workforce assessment survey to evaluate best practices for the delivery of graduate education. The emerging program will be both community-responsive and interdisciplinary, providing applied learning and incorporating distance-learning modalities of delivery.