The Changing American Dream in North Haven

We're excited to inaugurate a new series for our North Haven Patch Readers: "Dispatches: The Changing American Dream."

Every day, the national media is full of stories about how American families, businesses, and towns are adjusting to  trying economic times. On TV and radio, in conversations with our friends and observations of our communities, the national debates over unemployment, foreclosures, debt, religion, government and private enterprise are playing an ever larger role in our lives.

At Patch, we want to explore that conversation on a daily basis so we can better understand how our neighbors are adjusting to the challenges and opportunities that surround us.

We don't think there's one American Dream, but a multitude of American Dreams toward which a multitude of people are working. Looking out across nearly almost 900 Patch sites, we see businesses holding their breath deciding whether to expand; college graduates returning home because they can't find jobs, and senior citizens bringing boarders into their homes to help pay their bills.

We also see bold new volunteer efforts, inspiring stories of local businesses that succeed because they innovated, and residents who've taken these trying times as a signal to engage more, not less, in their government.

At the purely local level, we want to know where we, as North Haven neighbors, fit along these fault lines.

Nationally, there's a debate about which government-building efforts are "shovel-ready." Locally, we are seeing numerous projects to revamp town facilities and infrastructure, and to find tenants to renovate and populate derelict properties.

Nationally, there's a debate about the education system. Locally, North Haven has wrestled in recent months with the issues of special education, and how much money to allocate to the town's schools.

"Dispatches" will be built upon the compelling vignettes and snapshots we unearth across all of our Patch sites.

And, of course, we want your help: Tell us what issues and what stories in North Haven go to the heart of your American Dream.