The Lehigh Acres Citizen will take its next step into the world of digital journalism today by transitioning to a solely online newspaper.

After serving the community for more than 26 years with a weekly print edition, today’s Citizen will be the last to appear in that format.

While we will be among those who will miss holding a paper copy in hand, we recognize that readers are choosing more and more to get their news, even community news, on their phone or other digital device.

Here’s what to expect:

With the move to online, we plan to focus more on the “community” aspect of the information we provide.

Yes, we will continue to include the “hard news” stories shared on The Citizen website under “News from around the region.”

We still will continue to welcome and publish The Citizen’s popular contributed columns from organizations such as the Lehigh Acres Senior Center, the VFW and the American Legion.

We will continue to welcome letters to the editor and guest commentaries about issues of interest to the community.

But we will focus more on what is happening in our community by asking for more submissions from clubs and organizations that would like to get their message out online and on Facebook via lehighacrescitizen.com.

If you are active in the community with a civic or social club, volunteer with one of our community’s many schools or youth groups, take part in youth or adult athletics, we invite you to become part of what we hope will be an expansion of the news that matters most to you — the abundance of activities happening within our community, including where to go and what to enjoy.

We remain committed to Lehigh Acres and we are thankful to all those who have read, and contributed, through the years.

Despite our long-established online presence, it’s still a big step to move The Citizen wholly there.

But it was a big step to start a paper 26 years ago based primarily on requests from the community.

We heard you then and started a newspaper.

Hopefully, we are hearing you now as we move online.

We believe with your input, your contributions, lehighacrescitizen.com will remain your source for what is happening in our community.

Ray Eckenrode,

Publisher

Valarie Harring,

Executive editor