Families who live or work in Jim Thorpe have to look outside the borough for child care and preschool services.

A local service organization is looking at how such a facility could help those families, and the local economy.

“There are people who want to work, and would work, if they could find a place to put their child that’s a safe, quality, affordable experience,” said Jeanne Miller, president of the Jim Thorpe Rotary Club.

The Jim Thorpe Rotary recently surveyed over 200 families with children in the Jim Thorpe area. They found that 74 percent needed full- or part-time child care.

A majority of respondents reported needing either preschool, summer or before/after-school care.

The survey results confirmed stories that Miller said she and other Rotary members have heard for years, and particularly since the COVID pandemic. There is a lack of child care for parents who live and work in Jim Thorpe. It prevents some parents from seeking employment.

“You heard this before, and everything was magnified with COVID,” Miller said.

There are preschool and day care programs in Penn Forest Township and Lehighton, but Jim Thorpe does not have its own. St. Joseph’s Church’s faith-based program is currently closed, and the CCTI Day Care Center closed in 2013.

Rotary’s survey found that the lack of adequate child care prevented many parents from getting jobs. Many have to rely on family members for child care, and can’t guarantee the consistent care required to hold many jobs.

“Parents said they have to go week to week finding child care, you can hear frustration,” Miller said.

Miller says that having affordable child care should appeal to families and employers who are struggling to deal with the lingering worker shortage.

During the pandemic, many people who left the workforce cited caring for a family member as a reason, and many of them still have not returned.

Respondents to the Rotary survey said that cost was the number one barrier to them acquiring quality child care.

Having hours that worked with their schedule was the second barrier.

There are state and federal programs which cover the cost of child care and pre-K for families who fall below certain income guidelines. Miller said that programs like Pre-K Counts are great, but the survey shows that there are families who don’t qualify and still struggle to afford quality care and preschool.

“You’d like to see all parents have the opportunity to send their children to a quality preschool,” she said.

The Biden administration has proposed raising taxes on billionaires to fund universal Pre-K programs, and families’ child care costs at 7 percent of their income, but the proposals have not gained traction in the Senate.

Based on its findings in the survey, the Jim Thorpe Rotary is exploring if it can attract a preschool and day care to Jim Thorpe Borough. Lehigh Valley Children’s Centers, a nonprofit which operates Pre-K counts programs in Panther Valley and Palmerton, and a day care in Palmerton, is serving as a volunteer consultant in the process.

Miller said that Rotary members want to learn what it takes to bring a quality, licensed center to the borough. They want it to be affordable so it is worthwhile for parents who currently stay home to get out in the workforce.

“Hopefully we’ll be a catalyst to hopefully show that there’s a need, and bring in a quality organization to do something like that,” she said.