Patch Launches National Effort To Chronicle Local Economic Struggles

Today marks the beginning of a new Patch project called “Dispatches: The Changing American Dream.”

Given what we see in the dizzying, discouraging headlines everyday, these are trying times for the nation and the world: A near-record national unemployment rate. A seesawing stock market. Skyrocketing college tuitions. Mounting national and household debt. Underwater mortgages and foreclosures. U.S. soldiers dying in Afghanistan in our nation’s longest war.

“Dispatches” will chronicle how these major events are playing out in our homes, our neighborhoods, our schools, our religious organizations, our businesses, our governments.

We don't think there's one American Dream. We all have our version that we're working toward. And today's hurdles are formidable. Looking out across nearly 900 Patch sites, we see business owners holding their breath deciding whether to expand; college graduates returning home because they can't find jobs; and senior citizens housing boarders 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 we, as Havre de Grace neighbors, fit along these fault lines.

We've seen how entrepreneurs have staked their dreams on such items as cupcakes and custom frames. And we've watched as the river that defines us took another young life, a teenager who had made a family of his friends. Meanwhile, other families are being built in less traditional—but no less loving—ways such as adoption.

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

But don’t wait for us to find your story. This is a conversation. We need to hear from you. Tell us what stories in Havre de Grace you know of that best capture the American dream and spirit.