MISSION
The Southern Arizona Border Health Careers Opportunity Program (SABHCOP) helps develop a diverse health care workforce by fostering and promoting academic excellence and cultural competence among students in underserved border-area populations, from middle schools, high schools, colleges, and health professional programs.

RATIONALE
Arizona is diverse in terms of culture and demography. The SABHCOP intervention is directed at four Arizona-Mexico border counties that include a large ethnically diverse population. Each county includes designated Health Professions Shortages Areas (HPSA) and a socioeconomic profile that reveals widespread poverty, high unemployment, low levels of formal education, and lack of health insurance resulting in little or no access to health care services. The lack of a culturally diverse health care workforce contributes to poor access to culturally competent health care.

SCOPE
SABHCOP targets ethnically and culturally diverse students from middle schools, high schools, and colleges in Cochise, Pima, Santa Cruz, and Yuma counties in order to establish an educational pipeline with the academic support for enrolled students throughout their student careers into health professions. As a result SABHCOP will increase the number of border-region students from underserved and economically disadvantaged populations who enter health professional training programs. Such a process will ultimately improve the quality and access to health care services in Arizona’s southwestern border and will contribute to the development of a future culturally competent health care workforce by fostering intense training among its students.