The ribbon was officially cut Friday on the Jim Thorpe branch of Carbon County Head Start, opening the building to children from the Jim Thorpe, Lehighton and Albrightsville areas.

Located in the former Carbon Training Center on 13th Street, the center was approved for Jim Thorpe last April, and has been open since January.

The building is owned by the Carbon County Area Vocational-Technical School and is leased to Head Start, which also has locations in Coaldale and Bowmanstown.

The work needed to renovate the building into one suitable for Head Start was done by all of the shops in the building trades are of the vo-tech school and coordinated by remedial skills instructor Wayne Hittinger, in conjunction with the staff of Dave Kost, supervisor of buildings and grounds at the school.