Community Career Initiative

The Community Career Initiative (CCI) is a City of Fort Myers employment program that brings individuals into a training program for six months in order to: 

  1. Provide a comprehensive and collaborative reentry process for former offenders who are citizens of the City of Fort Myers.
  2. Foster purposeful employment, training and job skills learning opportunities and mentorship; and
  3. Reduce recidivism among those reentering the workforce. 

Collaborating Agencies:

  1. City of Fort Myers
  2. Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) Institute for Youth and Justice Studies
  3. Career Source South West Florida
  4. Florida Department of Corrections
  • To date, the city has made several successful hires not only into the program and is starting to transition some of the CCI Trainees into regular full-time positions with the city. 
    • The city continues to work with community partners on our recruiting and hiring efforts for this program.
  • The city collaborated with the Southwest Florida Workforce Development Board/Career Source SWFL to make sure participants of the program have access to education and training resources such as specialized training for certification, commercial driver’s license (CDL) training and equipment skills training.