The Panther Valley Blueprint Community Team is geared up for a community-wide, roadside cleanup, bringing the four boroughs it represents together this weekend to beautify the region.

But the team is also putting nearly two years of training into an action plan for the community, working on nonprofit status and looking for ways to improve Lansford, Nesquehoning, Summit Hill and Coaldale.

The roadside cleanup on Saturday morning is one facet of the team’s work to unite people for a common goal and make the community better, Jared Soto, team member, said recently.

“We’ve been able to build relationships with the boroughs,” he said. “We’re getting more integrated with the nonprofits that used to do their own cleanup, and now, they’re part of a larger effort.

“Then everyone comes back to the school for lunch and gets to see people from the other towns who participate.” Soto said. “That relationship building — the human element — is crucial.”

“No matter what happens, this is already a win,” he said.

The team is hoping for a lot more wins for the Panther Valley communities in the future as well.

The team is working with the Philadelphia law offices of Morgan Lewis on attaining nonprofit status for the group, which will allow the Blueprint team to apply for grant funding, Soto said.

That designation which the firm is doing pro bono for the team could be completed by this summer, he said.

Next step

A next step would be to go after funding for the state’s Main Street or Elm Street programs, which could help provide a regional Main Street manager to serve all four boroughs, Soto said.

The Main Street program would be better suited toward what the Panther Valley currently has in core downtown or business districts, whereas Elm Street looks at adjacent areas tied to a business hub, he explained.

“There aren’t really strong extensions of our downtown outside of the main streets,” he said.

Soto recently attended a Main Street 101 continuing education course, which focused on “safe, clean and green,” and provides a foundation community members could follow, he said.

“You don’t need thousands of dollars or a grant,” Soto explained. “It’s things somebody can just go out and do: sweep a sidewalk, pout some Windex on a window, pull some weeds, add brighter lights downtown.

“It’s the most accessible stuff, but gets overlooked,” he said, but everyone pitching in on those small things help build community and add visual appeal for visitors.

The Blueprint team is also committed to supporting work being done on the 9/11 Memorial Trail connector through the Panther Valley and where it ties into the community’s downtowns, making areas more accessible.

“One thing that is moving in a really good way right now is our trail — the 9/11 Memorial Trail,” Soto said. “We received a DCNR Peer grant to form a Carbon-Schuylkill trail commission with funding solely dedicated to the 9/11 Memorial Anthracite Connector portion from Pottsville to Jim Thorpe.”

The peer grant, acquired through the Carbon Chamber and Economic Development Corp., where Soto is the economic development coordinator, and Schuylkill County planning office, will provide a consultant to work on this part of the trail, taking advantage of federal funding options.

The peer grant will allow the area to build a trail commission, hire a consultant, and set up long term funding so the 9/11 Anthracite Connector easily and safely accesses the Panther Valley downtowns, Soto said.

Coal to commerce

Another initiative for the Panther Valley is Coal to Commerce, which would support entrepreneurship and businesses, and the first program under this umbrella would be the PV business accelerator.

The business accelerator, or business incubator, course through Lehigh Carbon Community College would target early-stage business ideas, like a home baker wanting to expand into a shop, he said.

Participants would learn about starting and operating a business and forming a solid business plan to launch within the Panther Valley, Soto explained. Blueprint would support the fledgling businesses with seed money as they start out, he said.

“We’re hoping to start that pilot in the fall,” Soto said.

Also being worked on is an asset inventory for the Panther Valley communities, looking at businesses, trails, historical markers, potential areas of blight, land use and infrastructure.

The inventory will allow the team and chamber to see what the communities are doing well and where improvement is needed and also match potential projects to funding, he said.

Soto hopes to spend one day a week as his schedule allows him to gather information toward this asset inventory, which supports the Blueprint team’s strategic plan.

The Blueprint team already has some successful projects, such as Nesquehoning VFW Veterans and First Responders Memorial Garden and its continuing support of the Panther Valley Community Food Pantry.

But another visible project will be the Four Borough Community Cleanup on Saturday, which was moved from April 25 to May 2 due to forecast heavy rain.

The project coordinates volunteers and organizations from all four communities together to pick up litter along the two state highways, Routes 209 and 902.

All volunteers will join together at the Panther Valley school complex after the morning cleanup for lunch. Blueprint will also have free hats and T-shirts for participants, while supplies last.

“We’re slowly integrating ourselves into the community and I think a cleanup is a great place to start,” Soto said.