When the city of Flint, Mich., began drawing water from the Flint River in April 2014, a public health crisis began. Ten years later, many of those who were children during the crisis—and have deep, difficult memories of the impact it had on the health of themselves and loved ones—have grown into teenagers and young adults that focus on advocacy.
A decade’s worth of data found that children who grew up during the water crisis have higher levels of ADHD, learning problems and behavioral and mental health issues than those before it began, said pediatrician Mona Hanna-Attisha. The city’s water has been declared safe, but many still don’t trust it enough to drink.
Now, dozens of those children participate in activities to promote clean water and advocate for other social issues. For example, 16-year-old Sima Gutierrez collects water samples from residents’ homes for testing at the Flint Community Water Lab, where more than 60 interns analyze the samples.
Another example is Dionna Brown, who was a 14-year-old Flint resident when the water crisis began and now serves as the national director of the younger environmental justice program at Young, Gifted and Green. She plans to become an environmental justice attorney.
“I tell people all the time: I’m a child of the Flint water crisis,” Brown said. “I love my city. And we put the world on notice that you cannot just poison a city and we’ll forget about it.”
