Substantial advertising support from local business has enabled the Homewood-Flossmoor Chronicle, launched as an all-volunteer newspaper, to hire its first employee.
Patty Houlihan officially joined the Chronicle March 1 as public outreach manager, responsible for advertising sales, marketing and bookkeeping.
The wife of Chronicle partner and editor Tom Houlihan, Patty initially joined the paper as a volunteer journalist. She has an extensive newspaper background, working as a reporter for 10 years at Star Newspapers and as the social issues reporter at the Times of Northwest Indiana.
“I loved being a reporter, and I loved working for a local newspaper,” she said.
With the Chronicle’s first print edition in December 2015, Houlihan volunteered to sell ads and was “overwhelmed” with the support of the business community.
“For an inaugural issue, it was amazing,” she said. “People were so glad to have a local paper again, particularly one they can hold in their hands.”
Eric Crump, who launched the Chronicle online in June 2014, said it’s exciting to see the paper grow.
“We always say a great community deserves a great newspaper, and we’re glad to see such a terrific response, particularly from advertisers,” he said. “Being able to hire Patty is a wonderful next step for us.”
Houlihan comes to the Chronicle from Together We Cope, a nonprofit social service agency in Tinley Park, where she was communications manager.
Previously she was senior editor at two world-class institutions — the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
She and her husband live in Flossmoor.