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Is Carbon County part of the Lehigh Valley? Increasingly, the answer is yes. The United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley announced Wednesday that it plans to absorb The United Way of Carbon County, taking over fundraising and grant distribution efforts in the mostly rural county to its north. It's the latest in a series of similar mergers. In 2013, the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce took the Carbon County Chamber of Commerce under its wing, and in 2014 the Carbon County and Lehigh Valley associations of Realtors' decided to merge. And the federal government long has considered Carbon County part of the Lehigh Valley, lumping it in with Lehigh and Northampton counties, as well as Warren County, N.J., in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton metropolitan statistical area. So is Carbon just the Lehigh Valley's northern edge? "It's almost a yes and a no," said Greg Bott, president of the United Way of Carbon County's board. "In general, its difficult. The Valley is very much focused on Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton and the major metro areas, but there are so many rural areas that are very closely aligned to Carbon." Carbon County-ites remain proud of what their county has to offer, he said, adding that there was a little unease when the United Way began contemplating the merger. "A lot of people in Carbon feel there is still autonomy and they want to be autonomous and don't want to be lumped in with the Lehigh Valley," said Bott, a Jim Thorpe native who recently moved to Northampton Borough. But there are some benefits to lumping, said Tony Iannelli, president and CEO of the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce. Many in Carbon's business community have aggressively pursued the resources and opportunity offered in the Lehigh Valley, which has a bigger population and commercial base. Together Lehigh and Northampton counties have a population of more than 650,000, about 10 times Carbon's population. Carbon County is best known for outdoor recreational destinations such as Blue Mountain Resort and the quaint shops and bed-and-breakfasts of Jim Thorpe. "The term they often use is they want to be the Lehigh Valley's playground," Iannelli said. "If we continue with the growth we have, they view their region as the Lehigh Valley's playground. People can go there and ski, and hike and raft." Because of its comparatively small population, Carbon County is often forced to join forces with other counties and regions, said Commissioners Chairman Wayne Nothstein. But it's not always the Lehigh Valley. The county has a mental health treatment partnership with Monroe and Pike counties in the Poconos, for example. It really depends on where you live, he said. People living in the southern part of the county, say in East Penn Township, feel a link to the Valley. Others living in Weatherly, for example, feel more closely affiliated with Luzerne County or the Scranton area. "Always the biggest concern with any of the organizations is are we getting our fair share when we join a larger business like this," Nothstein said. In some ways, the growing links are a return to the county's roots, he said. Carbon County didn't exist until 1843 when it was carved out of Monroe and Northampton counties. In the case of the United Way merger, leaders of Carbon County's all-volunteer United Way hope allying with their larger cousin to the south will take some of the administrative tasks off their plates, leaving more time for fundraising and direct charity work, Bott said. The United Way directs money and support to regional nonprofits by working with employers to collect tax-deductible donations that can be extracted from workers' paychecks, as well as soliciting larger donations from business leaders and philanthropists. Money raised in Carbon County will stay there, as money raised in the Lehigh Valley with benefit only organizations in Lehigh and Northampton counties, except in the case of disaster relief, when funds can be shifted. The Lehigh Valley has a much larger employment base than Carbon County. That's evident in the size of the two entities. Carbon County's United Way administered a $60,000 budget in 2015, including about $33,000 that came from donations collected in the Lehigh Valley, but directed to Carbon County charities. The Greater Lehigh Valley United Way's 2015 fundraising effort brought in $11.8 million. It has a paid staff of 34 full- and three part-time workers. It estimates about 4,000 Carbon County residents commute to the Lehigh Valley each day for work. By joining the Greater Lehigh Valley organization, Carbon County nonprofits will be able to tap into those greater resources to increase fundraising, said Lenore Mohr, Greater Lehigh Valley spokeswoman "We are hoping to really help that area, to serve the people," she said. "We will do a needs assessment to find out what they need." Bott said he's sure the smaller charities in Carbon County will have some adjusting to do, but if they benefit in the long run from greater support, it will be worth it. Read the original articlehere.