We Want Your Stories About The Changing American Dream

We're excited to inaugurate a 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 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 that a multitude of people are working toward. 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 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 Enumclaw neighbors, fit along these fault lines.

Nationally, there's a debate about government spending. Locally, we know that donations and volunteer work paid for a beautiful new football stadium. Nationally, there's a debate about the education system, which is at the center of our dreams of a better life for our children. Locally, we know Enumclaw’s schools are getting mixed
results from the state. And the most important people to turn that situation around is not our national government, but our local leaders. Nationally, health care continues to be a disaster, but locally we are blessed with a new hospital that will serve us for years to come. Nationally, businesses continue to struggle but this summer we've had many new ones start up. Nationally, homeowners continue to lose their houses to foreclosure. While that is happening locally, nonprofit groups such as Plateau Outreach Ministries has volunteers that spend hundreds of hours each month helping those in need.

"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 Enumclaw go to the heart of your American Dream.