'Patch Latino' Coming to Southern California

Patch, the network of over 800 hyperlocal news and information sites dedicated to comprehensive, community-specific coverage, will launch “Patch Latino” for communities with large Latino populations.

Patch Latino will kick off with new sites in Southern California by the end of 2011. While embodying the traditional Patch model of local news, community and information, the sites will also offer dedicated coverage of topics of special interest to the Latino population. All editorial content on the sites will be in Spanish.

The move is part of a larger strategy by the AOL Huffington Post Media Group to reach black and Latino audiences.

In another key move, Sheila C. Johnson will serve as Strategic Advisor for Multicultural and African-American Initiatives. Johnson is an entrepreneur, philanthropist and founding partner of Black Entertainment Television (BET).

 “Sheila is a true media pioneer whose passion and perspective on culture and media will be invaluable in helping shape our wide-ranging multicultural coverage," said Arianna Huffington, President and Editor-in-Chief of the AOL Huffington Post Media Group in a prepared statement.

Finally, Derek Murphy has been named General Manager, Multicultural. Murphy will drive the overall strategy and operational performance for AOL Latino, BlackVoices and AOL’s other multicultural offerings. Murphy had been COO of Global Media Ventures, which he formed with Johnson.