1926 Victoria Avenue  |  Fort Myers  |  FL  |  33901  |  Phone: (239) 338-2550  |  Fax: (239) 338-2560    




Mission: to work together across neighboring communities to consistently protect and improve the unique and relatively unspoiled character of the physical, economic and social worlds we share for the benefit of our future generations.

Economic Development District

In 1992, the SWFRPC was designated an Economic Development District (EDD) by the Economic Development Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The SWFRPC staffs the Southwest Florida Regional Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) Committee, which includes representatives from the Region and was established to address the area’s economic problems and challenges from a regional perspective.

    The primary functions of the EDD are (but are not limited to):
  • Development of the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) for the region, as appropriate;
  • Utilization of the CEDS and CEDS process to foster collaborative regional economic development efforts;
  • Implementation of the Action Plan of the CEDS including grant writing, planning and technical assistance, other economic development assistance, training, travel, and other related activities, if directory associated to CEDS implementation;
  • Coordinate federal, state and local funds to optimize the implementation of the CEDS action plan and progress toward attainment of regional goals, objectives and vision;
  • Provide reports, data and regional information as requested by EDA in a timely manner;
  • Ensuring that EDD complies with EDA regulations particularly those regarding eligibility, destination and CEDS;
  • GPRA reporting

The EDD is comprised of the six counties that make up the SWFRPC (Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry, Lee and Sarasota, and all municipalities therein). The staff of the Regional Planning Council will act as the administrative arm of the EDD. The EDD must provide semi-annually reports of the economic development activities in the region by the end of July and January yearly. This will be accomplished with the help of the economic development departments/staff within each municipality and other economic development practitioners. They are expected to provide updated information about their respective economic development initiatives to the EDD staff.