As part of the budget process in September 1999, the Austin City Council approved a new position for the Austin History Center proposed by Councilmember Willie Lewis to implement an Austin African American Cultural Initiative. We are currently interviewing candidates for a Neighborhood Outreach Liaison to identify and solicit materials that document the life of African Americans in Austin for preservation in the Austin History Center, so that researchers will have access to a more complete picture of the development of our community. To accomplish this, the Outreach Liaison will develop partnerships with African American organizations and organize such projects as oral history interviews, Photo Heritage Days, traveling exhibits, preservation workshops, and the publications of selected digitized documents on the Internet. We are hopeful that these projects will not only identify relevant documents for addition to the Austin History Center archives, they will also encourage broader awareness and appreciation of the value of preserving Austin's African American heritage.