Over the last 18 months, the South Florida MIRR Project Team, comprised of the SFRPC Council Staff, Jacobs Solutions, and the South Florida Defense Alliance, has been working diligently in partnership with South Florida’s Military Commands and other key stakeholders to identify risks, hazards, and vulnerabilities of concern “outside of the fence line” that potentially adversely impact the missions of the installations. The vulnerability assessment was then followed by recommendations for resilience-enhancing investments and policy approaches to address vulnerabilities that benefit both the installation and the community.

The Council is now in the process of conducting outreach on the findings of the project and engaging the community partners to ensure implementation. The intended outcome of this project is to move from planning to real investments and change that improve the resilience of the military installations and its neighbors.

Mayors, elected officials, and professional staff from Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties met at the South Florida Regional Planning Council to share their progress in providing affordable housing since last September’s affordable housing conversation.

The conversation featured the challenges that the counties are working to overcome, what opportunities have presented themselves, what they have learned over the past year, and what legislative changes or additions to statutes would be helpful during the upcoming state legislative session.

At last year’s SFRPC/TCRPC regional conference on Solid Waste Management Challenges and Opportunities in Southeast Florida, elected officials and solid waste managers told the Councils that recycling, and recycling correctly, is a critical regional issue particularly with several landfills approaching capacity. On October 20th, the Councils hosted “Recycling Right: Transforming Southeast Florida’s Waste Landscape” in Fort Lauderdale. The Southeast Florida region consists of Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie, and Indian River counties.

Congratulations to the 2023 Aliceann Wohlbruck NADO Impact Award recipients! The National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) is a 501c4 membership association that represents the interests of regional community and economic development practitioners. Established in 1967, NADO advocates for federal policies and programs that promote equitable community development, economic competitiveness, rural development, economic mobility, and quality of place. NADO represents a national network of more than 500 Regional Development Organizations (RDOs) across the country. 

The annual Impact Awards program honors NADO members for their creative approaches to advancing regional economic development and improving quality of life. These projects have made significant impacts on their regions and demonstrate the diversity of services and program delivery provided by regional development organizations across the country.

The 2023 class of awardees consists of 107 projects from 71 organizations spanning 28 states. These projects will be recognized at NADO’s Annual Training Conference in Cleveland, OH in November 2023. The South Florida Regional Planning Council was recognized for its Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund.

On October 23, 2023, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) announced that the South Florida Climate Resilience Tech Hub, led by Miami-Dade County, has been designated as one of 31 Tech Hubs in the country, selected from a competitive pool of nearly 200 applicants across the United States and its territories. This designation will elevate and accelerate South Florida’s advances in climate action and resiliency and unlock access to tens of millions of dollars in potential funding. The Tech Hubs Program is a federal economic development initiative designed to drive regional technology and innovation-led growth by strengthening the capacity to manufacture, commercialize, and deploy key climate technologies.

The Tech Hub Designation serves as an unmistakable testament that South Florida is not only a leader in sustainable and resilient infrastructure (SRI) innovation but is also primed for rapid technology-led economic development. The South Florida Regional Planning Council, in its role as the Economic Development District for South Florida, convened a consortium of local governments, businesses, universities, and organizations that includes lead applicant Miami-Dade County,City of Miami, 1Print, Blue Frontier, Carbon Limit, MasTec, Titan Florida, Watsco, Southeast Florida Regional Climate Compact, Miami Waterkeeper, Broward County, Monroe County, Palm Beach County, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Miami Dade College, Nova Southeastern, University of Miami, Florida Memorial, Northeastern University (Miami), Florida Power & Light, I Squared, Merrimac Ventures, Mission One Capital, Ken Griffin/Citadel, Knight Foundation, Beacon Council, eMerge Americas, Greater Fort Lauderdale Alliance, Marine Research Hub, Miami-Dade Innovation Authority, Seaworthy Collective, South Florida Defense Alliance, Techstars, IUOE 487, Miami Tech Works, CareerSource, CodePath, OIC So Florida, among others to apply for the initial designation. A two-step process, a more complete proposal from the Consortium is due in February 2024.