Introducing Dispatches to Prospect Heights

We're excited to inaugurate our new series for our Patch readers: "Dispatches: The Changing American Dream."

Every day, the national media is full of stories about how American families, businesses, and neighbors are adjusting to these trying times. There are so many changes happening so fast that it's dizzying: national debates about unemployment, foreclosures, debt, religion, government and private enterprise all touch on fundamental ways in which we see ourselves and our communities.

At Patch, we want to explore that conversation consistently so we can better understand how our neighbors are adjusting to the challenges and opportunities that surround us. This series is about how America works, how we realize our dreams and life as we know it. It's about how we approach our lives, our relationships, our jobs, our communities and ourselves.

We know the American Dream is different for everyone. We know many of our friends, family and neighbors are working toward the goal of reaching their own dreams, helping others get there and nurturing not only themselves but their communities along the way.

Looking out across the nearly 900 Patch sites across the country, 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 locals 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 Prospect Heights residents and those that work here fit along these fault lines.

Nationally, there's a debate about fiscal and monetary policy. Locally, we've reported on the mixed bag of finding and keeping work , as well as newly imposed tolls intended to help stabilize and stimulate the local economy, .  

Nationally, there's a debate about the education system, which is at the center of our dreams of a better life for our children. In Prospect Heights we have covered the threat of proposed teacher cuts in city schools as well as the lack of space and plans have a charter school and public school share the same building.

"Dispatches" will be built upon the compelling vignettes and snapshots we unearth in our Patch towns throughout the year.

And, of course, we want your help: Tell us what issues and what stories in Prospect Heights go to the heart of your American Dreams.

We want to hear from you Propsect Heights!