Zoning is effectively used by communities in the region, protecting the value of housing and business investment. Danbury Hospital, representing every major medical subspecialty, is affiliated with Yale-New Haven and is a regional training hospital. New Milford Hospital, a community hospital, is associated with Columbia Presbyterian Hospital in New York City. There are nursing homes, elder day care, hospice and special needs programs like Datahr Rehabilitation Institute that satisfy any requirement. Each community has a public library with community Internet access and intrastate loan services.
Internet access is common in libraries throughout the region.
The Robert Young Business Library at Western Connecticut State University's Ancell School of Business, modeled after the Harvard University Business Library, is open to the public. Weekly town newspapers and the daily News-Times serve all the communities. The region also shows a high daily circulation to the New York Times and the Wall St. Journal. The Danbury Fair Mall is New England's largest. The Route 7 corridor has become an antique shopping mecca.