Welcome to Brookfield Patch

Hello, Brookfield.

It's great to be back!

Some of you might remember me because I covered Brookfield and the Elmbrook School District for six years at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Now I'm back covering them for another news organization: Patch. 

What's Patch and who am I? 

Brookfield Patch is an online news and information site that will keep you in-the-know about your local government, schools, businesses, sports, arts and more. Call it an online newspaper, or a daily magazine. It’s all online and all free. There is no print edition or subscription.

Why should you trust me for your local news? 

I know Brookfield and Waukesha County very well, and I will work hard to make Brookfield Patch a valuable source of information.

My husband and I lived in the Town of Brookfield for five years. I worked for a dozen years in the Journal Sentinel's Waukesha County news bureau, the first half covering Waukesha County Circuit Courts, state Dist. II Court of Appeals and statewide legal affairs. Some compelling Brookfield court cases were among those I followed.

After our first child was born,  I asked to move to a part-time reporting job, covering Brookfield, Elm Grove and Elmbrook schools. I did that for six years until I left the paper in 2009 and began freelancing for Milwaukee media outlets in the final year before our youngest started kindergarten. 

Now I'm back to full-time, working for Patch. 

Few faces have changed since I left and in some ways, my coverage will simply pick up where I left off.

In other ways, it will be very different: I plan to write not just hard news about local government and school policy but also lighter fare, with a focus on helping parents and kids navigate family life. I want to build a Facebook and Twitter community to share everything from what your School Board did tonight to new ideas to pack in your kids' lunch boxes. I will hire freelance writers to help cover all the news and events. 

Here's one useful resource already available: we created a searchable directory of every Brookfield business, restaurant, school, park, church, doctor's office and more. Next time you need pet services, or a car wash or local church worship times, it's all there with photos to help you find the place, especially on busy Blue Mound Road. You can search which restaurants have a certain type of food, outdoor dining, kid-friendly menus or certain price ranges. You might discover some eats you didn't know existed in your backyard.  

You also can “follow” any place in the directory, like your kids’ school, your church or your employer. Once you click "start following this listing," any time that place is featured in a story, photo or video, you will get an email with a direct link to it. Great shortcut for busy people.

Too busy to check the site? Sign up for a daily or weekly e-newsletter with direct links to the latest stories, photos and video. Quick signup is on the home page.

Please take advantage of the free Brookfield calendar of events by posting your business or organization events with this easy posting tool located at the lower right corner of the home page.

Share your announcements - whether someone's getting married, got a business promotion, scored the honor roll or had a baby. You can post them yourself or email me the details and I'll do it. 

I hope to meet as many Brookfield residents as I can and make the site a two-way conversation - an online Town Square about hot issues or whatever is on your mind.

Please email me your story ideas, tips or questions anytime at lisa.sink@patch.com. Comment on the stories. And chat with me on our Facebook page and Twitter. 

And if you see me around town, please stop by and say hi. I'd love to hear your story. Thanks.