Water is essential. People need water to survive. However, water services rates in Michigan have become unaffordable and hundreds of thousands of residents in metropolitan areas such as Detroit and Flint are left without access to water. The deprivation of water disrupts essential family functions and rituals, heightens vulnerability to disease, and causes deep emotional trauma and security risk to families. It is with great honor to have We the People of Detroit (WTD) teach us about the water crisis in Michigan and how we can join the cause. Refreshments will be served.Speakers: Monica Lewis-Patrick (President & CEO, We the People of Detroit)
Monica Lewis-Patrick is an educator, entrepreneur, and human rights activist. Known as "The Water Warrior," Lewis-Patrick is actively engaged in the struggle to access safe, affordable water for all under-resourced communities. In 2022, Lewis-Patrick joined the University of Waterloo as a Jarislowsky Fellow; she has also been selected as a Michigan State University Water Fellow and Ron McNair Scholar. Lewis-Patrick also serves as a member of several organizations, boards, and committees dedicated to the advancement of water equity, including the National Water Affordability Table, All About Water/Freshwater Future - Subcommittee, PolicyLink- Water Energy Resource Caucus (WERC), Michigan Water Unity Table, End Water Poverty, and Healing Our Waters/Equity Advocacy and Action Committee. Norrel Hemphill, Esq. (Equal Justice Works Fellow, Great Lakes Environmental Law Center)
Detroiter – by way of Flint, MI – Attorney Norrel Hemphill is focused on helping to create policy and legislation that drives water affordability. At Great Lakes Environmental Law, Norrel works alongside grassroots water warriors and lawyers to advocate for low-income residents in Detroit, the state of Michigan, and throughout the Great Lakes region to ensure they have access to clean, safe, and affordable drinking water. Norrel’s Equal Justice Works Fellowship is focused on working toward water affordability through coalition-building with local nonprofit organizations, attorneys, and residents, as well as improving the Detroit Lifeline Plan, a pilot program launched by DWSD.Tiana Starks (Communications Director, We The People of Detroit)
As Communications Director, Tiana Starks uses her expertise to shape and direct the narrative around water insecurity that reflects the lived experience of real people in our communities who have to contend with a lack of access to clean, safe, affordable water. She leads the WPD Communications Team in fielding media requests internally and externally, coordinating and drafting external communications to be distributed via various media outlets, and coordinating in-person and virtual events.About We the People of Detroit   We the People of Detroit is dedicated to community coalition building and to the provision of resources that inform, train and mobilize the citizens of Detroit and beyond to improve their quality of life. As a community-based grassroots organization, WPD aims to inform, educate, and empower Detroit residents on imperative issues surrounding civil rights, land, water, education, and the democratic process.