Families and young adults in Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton, Emmaus, Macungie and across the Lehigh Valley can work with a Blackburn mentor by video. You get one dedicated mentor, sessions weekly or more often in Eastern time, and text and phone contact between meetings. Our team is based in Los Angeles, so sessions in the Lehigh Valley are online and nobody has to add a drive on Route 22.
From steel to logistics
The Lehigh Valley was once defined by steel. Bethlehem’s old mill site now hosts concerts and festivals, and the region has reinvented itself around health care, manufacturing, education and an enormous warehouse and logistics industry along I-78 and Route 22. Easton sits where the Lehigh River meets the Delaware, and Allentown has seen a downtown revival.
The region is growing. Many families moved in from New Jersey and New York for more space and lower costs, and some still commute east by car or bus. North of the cities, the Slate Belt and the towns toward the Poconos are more rural, with longer drives to school, work and everything else.
Session times from the Lehigh Valley
The Lehigh Valley is on Eastern time, three hours ahead of our Los Angeles mentors in winter and summer alike.
| Slot | Lehigh Valley (Eastern) | Mentor (Pacific) |
|---|---|---|
| After school | 3:30 pm | 12:30 pm |
| Before a second-shift start | 4:30 pm | 1:30 pm |
| After the drive home from New Jersey | 7:30 pm | 4:30 pm |
| Latest start | 8:00 pm | 5:00 pm |
Shift workers can ask for early-morning sessions, and weekend sessions are available for anyone whose weekday schedule changes from week to week. Sessions are 60 minutes.
The Lehigh Valley by the numbers
- Commutes that cross the river. The mean travel time to work in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton metro is 28.2 minutes (U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2024 1-year, via Census Reporter). When a parent drives into New Jersey every day, a session the teen takes at home removes one more pickup from the evening.
- Many first and second generation families. 11.9% of people in the metro were born outside the United States (ACS 2024 1-year, via Census Reporter). Teens in those homes often bridge two sets of expectations, and a mentor gives them space to set goals of their own.
- Lots of paths besides a four-year degree. 33.8% of adults 25 and older in the metro hold a bachelor’s degree or higher (ACS 2024 1-year, via Census Reporter). Apprenticeships, health care certificates and commercial driving are common routes, and a mentor helps a young adult compare them before committing.
- Moving out takes a plan. The median owner-occupied home is valued at $332,700 and the median household income is $83,974 (ACS 2024 1-year, via Census Reporter). Statewide, 34.7% of Pennsylvanians ages 18 to 34 live with their parents (FinanceBuzz analysis of 2024 ACS data, state level, published March 2026), and mentors help families agree what the next step looks like.
Seasons and school in the valley
Across New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, about three quarters of students start school after Labor Day, a regional pattern (Pew Research Center, 2023 to 24 school year). Lehigh Valley districts open in late August or just after Labor Day and run to mid June, so the middle of August is a good time to get goals in place. Winters bring snow from December into March, and video sessions go ahead on snow days. Summers bring festivals downtown, and winter brings ski jobs in the mountains to the north.
Freight is everywhere. Trucks crowd I-78 and Route 22, and the warehouse economy has made commercial driving, forklift work and equipment maintenance common first jobs. Some young adults see a commercial driver’s license as a fast path to good pay; others want something with a more predictable schedule. Our guide to your first job in the trades is a good place to start.
Families who are bridging two worlds
Allentown and Bethlehem are home to large Puerto Rican, Dominican and other Latino communities, and many households speak Spanish at home. Teenagers in those families often serve as the bridge, helping parents read school notices, fill out forms or handle appointments, and many will be the first in their family to apply to college. The valley also has a cluster of small colleges and two-year campuses, so many local students stay close, live at home and work part time while they study. See mentoring for first-generation college students and our guide for parents of first-generation college students.
What the first month usually looks like
The first few weeks are about getting specific. In the first session, the mentor and client agree on two or three goals that matter right now, such as passing a class, applying to a training program or getting to work on time every day. Each week those goals become a short list of steps, and by the end of the first month most people have a clearer picture of what is working. Read more about what happens in a first mentoring session.
Situations that come up often in the Lehigh Valley
- A bilingual teen who handles family paperwork and appointments and has little time left for their own goals.
- A young adult weighing a commercial driver’s license against an apprenticeship or a health care certificate.
- A student in the Slate Belt with long drives to school, work and everything else.
- A teenager whose family just moved from New Jersey and who is still finding a place at a new school.
Where a mentor helps
A mentor is one steady adult outside the family who keeps goals concrete and follows up each week. The role does not include tutoring, therapy or admissions work. Young adults often begin with young adult mentoring. See our online mentoring page and the Pennsylvania mentoring page for more.
Related
- Online mentoring in Philadelphia
- Online mentoring in Bucks County
- Online mentoring in Harrisburg and Lancaster
- Online mentoring and coaching in Pennsylvania
Common questions
Do you meet in person in the Lehigh Valley?
No. In-person sessions are only in Los Angeles. In the Lehigh Valley, sessions are by video with text and phone contact in between.
What session times work for Lehigh Valley families?
Most families pick a time between 3:30 and 8:00 pm Eastern, which is 12:30 to 5:00 pm in Los Angeles. Early-morning and weekend sessions are offered for shift workers and busy households. Everything is booked in your local time.
Do you work with students who commute to college?
Yes. Many Lehigh Valley students live at home, work part time and drive to class, and that schedule is easy to let slip. A mentor helps them build a weekly plan that covers class, study, work and sleep, and our guide for commuter college students has more.
Can sessions work around a parent’s long commute?
Yes. A teen can meet their mentor at home while a parent is still on the road, and the parent gets a short progress update afterward. Evening sessions also suit young adults who commute themselves.
Do you help young adults choose between college and work?
Yes. A mentor helps a young adult look at the real costs, schedules and paths of each option, talk with people already doing the work and make a decision with weekly steps behind it. Mentors do not give admissions advice.
Get started
Want to talk about mentoring for someone in the Lehigh Valley? Call (888) 305-5422, email contact@blackburnmentoring.com or start with a short assessment. A member of our team reviews every assessment personally and sets up a free intro call.
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Free, by video, 20 minutes, with a member of our team. Weekdays 9 to 5 Pacific.