Editor's Notebook: Patch Celebrates its 100th Site Launch

This morning in a small town in New Jersey, a new website suddenly blinked into being.

And while the happenings in Morristown (population 18,000) are likely of little interest to anyone here in Brookline, this morning's launch was a milestone in the history of community journalism and what we've been doing here at Brookline Patch for the last six weeks.

If you're reading this, you already know that what we're doing is something new and different, something that hasn't been done quite like this before. While we didn't invent community journalism, we've brought it up to speed, made it respond to how people in Brookline live. No longer do we wait for Thursday's paper to learn about last Friday's news, or leaf through a phone book to find the number for the new butcher around the corner. Patch is about information that keeps up with your lifestyle.

What you might not know is how Patch came to sprout up in Brookline last month, or where it came from. The truth is, our website is just one piece of a network – dare we say, a patchwork? – of community news sites across the country, each staffed by a fulltime journalist and a complement of correspondents. With this morning's launch in Morristown, NJ, we now have websites covering 100 communities in nine states, from Beverly Hills, CA to Brookline, MA.

Our company was founded in February 2008 and the first three Patches followed a year later. Then in June 2009, the fledgling company was bought by Internet powerhouse AOL; the company believed enough in what Patch was doing to spur its growth with a $50 million investment.

Since early 2008, our Patches have produced more than 55,000 articles and uploaded more 1 million photographs. In coffee shops, parks and libraries across the country, our local editors are working constantly to bring you more news, information and stories from your community.

In Brookline, we've been welcomed enthusiastically into the community. Nearly every day I hear from readers – many who read my work in the Brookline TAB for years – saying that we're providing them news and information with the immediacy and relevance that makes sense for their lifestyle. With each passing week, I find myself spending less time explaining what Patch is, and more time talking with people about how they can get involved.

And there are lots of ways to get involved. Go to our calendar and post an upcoming event; upload photos or video to our stories, share volunteer opportunities or find ways you can help out; and email us with feedback, good or bad. And look for us around town; I'm out here every day, typing away on my laptop and fielding calls on my cell phone. Stop by sometime and say hi.