What is Patch? We're an online community, a gathering place on the Internet for people to share news, events and conversation about their town, government, schools, businesses, teams and more.
We're an open platform for contributors who want their local voice heard. And we're a source for local, regional and topical news produced by professional journalists.
The Chicago area's first Patches opened five years ago this fall. More than 212,000 people follow us on Facebook (the largest fan base per capita in the nation), and 185,000 people subscribe to Patch by email . We are a small but mighty crew: Our south and southwest suburban Patches are among the most-visited in the United States, including Joliet, Plainfield, Orland Park, Tinley Park, Lemont and New Lenox.
As we get started in Homer Glen and Lockport, we'd love for you, your colleagues and friends to make use of your new Patch. Here are a few places you can visit to learn about Patch:
* Want to contribute? Our user guide will get you started.
* Join the 400 local residents who've already found us on Facebook
* Subscribe to Patch by email, including alerts and a morning newsletter
* We just started a Twitter feed, if that's your thing.
* You may submit right away to our temporary community calendar
* Interested in advertising?