What are the critical issues facing the Austin metro areas Black community that are inadequately covered by the local media? Local journalist Alberta Phillips moderated a discussion of these issues with Travis County Commissioner for Precinct One Jeffrey Travillion and journalist and civic leader Roxanne Evans.  Some of the critical issues they discussed included affordable housing, gentrification, and access to COVID 19 vaccines east of I-35.  The event was sponsored in part by PEN America.

Jeffrey W. Travillion was elected to the Travis County Commissioners Court representing Precinct 1 in November 2016 and took office on the first day of 2017. Travillion is involved in a number of civic activities, including serving as a deacon at the Abundant Life Community Baptist Church.  He is a graduate of Leadership Austin, chairman of the Communications Committee for the Texas State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and a member of the board of directors of the Austin Project.

Alberta Phillips is a local writer and award-winning journalist, who began her career at an African American publication, The Call and Times, in Cincinnati, Ohio.  The majority of her career has been with the Austin city daily, The Austin American-Statesman, where she rose from a neighbor reporter to Editorial Writer and Columnist, taking the pulse of Austin’s Communities of Color for more than 30 years.   Ms. Phillips launched a public affairs and news show called, ATX Now In Color! The show, a public affairs program that focuses on Communities of Color in the Austin Metropolitan Area, airs Sundays at 1 pm on KAZI-FM community radio.

Roxanne Evans has more than 35 years of experience in journalism and public relations.  Evans has been in Austin for more than three decades. She spent 10 years at the Austin American-Statesman, where she began as a reporter and made history when she became the first African American editorial writer and member of the Editorial Board.