The Panther Valley Blueprint Community Team is more than halfway through its 18-month training process, preparing to start moving the needle on revitalization in the area, a program coordinator said last week.

Justine Trucksess, who oversees the Blueprint Community program for the Pennsylvania Downtown Center, addressed Summit Hill Borough Council about the program.

The Blueprint team will graduate from the program in November and begin setting into motion a strategic plan, or vision, to boost the Panther Valley communities of Coaldale, Nesquehoning, Lansford and Summit Hill, she said.

That strategic plan is being formulated from survey responses culled from the community and will set goals for the future, Trucksess said.

She asked Summit Hill council and those in the other four communities to give the team time, and trust in its members and the process.

“This journey that you’re on is a marathon, and not a sprint. Give them time,” Trucksess said. “Economic development, community transformation and revitalization takes a number of years.”

The Panther Valley team will carry the Blueprint designation for the next 10 years. That designation brings with it guidance and financial know-how and backing to help the struggling communities.

Trucksess pointed to neighboring Tamaqua, which was a Blueprint Community, and its core group has been working on the process for 20 or 25 years with slow, incremental improvements.

“I would encourage you as a governing body to be patient and supportive, and to make sure that the lines of communication are open,” she said.

The designation also brings opportunity, said Abbie Guardiani, a team member, who also spoke to council.

“This is an incredible opportunity for the Panther Valley, absolutely incredible,” she said.

The Blueprint team is already looking at quality of life concerns throughout the Panther Valley, and how to stimulate economic development and get storefronts back open, Guardiani said.

“Let’s get some people coming to the Panther Valley,” she said. “There is not a wall on the road between Jim Thorpe and the rest of the Panther Valley.”

The communities need more recreational opportunities, and the Blueprint team just attended a kickoff for a trail linking Pottsville to Jim Thorpe, working with the 9/11 Memorial Trail Commission.

“They’re looking at developing a beautiful trail right through the Panther Valley that we can be a huge part of,” Guardiani said.

A trail could bring in visitors and businesses supporting that kind of outdoor recreation, giving the area an economic boost, she said.

The process will take time, Guardiani said.

But the team has time with the 10-year designation and knowledge that the team will be putting into action in the coming years, she said.

“This designation puts us kind of at the front of the line when it comes to applying for grants,” she said, because the team will have a long-term plan with attainable goals that funders will want to support.

The education that the team is receiving combined with the strategic plan it is developing will better position them for funding, but doesn’t guarantee it, Guardiani said.

Summit Hill Council President Dave Wargo asked about opportunities for people in the community to help or join the effort.

Guardiani explained that once the team gets through its training, it will be developing subcommittees to focus on specific areas.

Everyone in the Panther Valley who filled out a survey is already involved, she said, and is playing a key role in the process.

“You’re a huge part of it, and we can’t do it without you,” Guardiani said. “You may not be sitting at the table, but your information is coming in, and being digested and being recorded.”

Every single survey is recorded, she said, and that information is what will go into the needs for the long term plan.

“We can write a long term plan with what we believe is important to the Panther Valley. (But it) doesn’t matter,” she said. “We have to know what the people in the Panther Valley believe is important, because it’s not going to work unless we include the people in the Panther Valley.”

The team needs 5% of the Panther Valley to respond, which is about 600 responses, and the team is a little more than halfway there.

“We’re putting our faces out and going to community events and trying to get people to respond,” Guardiani said.

She handed out surveys at the meeting, and asked people to follow the Panther Valley Blueprint Community on Facebook, or go to the website, Panther Valley Blueprint Community, which is being hosted by the Carbon Chamber & Economic Development Corp.

“We promise you nothing except doing our best, our absolute best, for the Panther Valley,” Guardiani said.