The fight for clean water is far from over, and in recognition of this, our environmental justice hero for this week is Little Miss Flint. Amariyanna “Mari” Copeny–commonly referred to as Little Miss Flint–is a youth advocate for clean water and underprivileged children. From the young age of eight years old, Copeny began speaking out in support for her hometown of Flint, Michigan.
Little Miss Flint coined her name from a beauty contest she won in 2015, and used it going forward in her efforts to raise awareness of Flint’s water crisis. In 2016, after Mari wrote a letter to the president, President Obama came to Flint and authorized 100 million dollars to help Flint’s infrastructure.
Copeny has led multiple backpack and water bottle drives to help low-income school children and her community. Through her efforts, she has raised over $70,000 for environmental justice communities. To this day, Mari remains an active environmental voice to raise awareness and inspire the next generation of climate activists.
If we are to make the world a better place for our children, we are called to follow Mari’s example, by speaking out for our communities, and to take action. Join caring Virginians in holding our legislators accountable for this change, by signing our petition to Senator Warner. Go to our Build back Better page to sign it now.