Featured photo: Dexter Clarke, director of Faith-Based and Community Engagement Initiatives for Genesee Health System
Photo provided by Dexter Clarke
Written by Tanya Terry
Athena McKay, director of Flint Innovative Solutions , and Dexter Clarke, director of Faith-Based and Community Engagement Initiatives for Genesee Health System, are facilitating the upcoming Flint Clean Water Summit being held from 3:30-5:30 p.m., Tuesday, May 16, at the Flint Development Center.
At the summit, the City of Flint, EGLE, EPA, the Flint Water Advisory Council and legal representatives will talk about what is true. In addition, the EPA will talk about what is possible.
Clarke & Athena McKay will lead a discussion titled “Next Steps, What is Needed?” and a brainstorming workshop series.
The City of Flint will also provide water filters to attendees, and educational literature will be available to community members.
“The whole idea of the Water Summit is to bring accurate information,” said Clarke. “The Communication Group that Athena and I facilitate has been in existence since the Water Crisis. It came from that. We were meeting on a weekly basis. Now we’re bi-weekly just to try to keep up with what’s going on with the Water Crisis and also other community-related issues, like with COVID. During that time, there has probably been misinformation in the community. The whole idea of our group is to make sure we have accurate information to disseminate to residents of Flint.”
Clarke stated he and McKay would like more people to get the information.
“We felt the need that the community needs to be aware of accurate information,” he added. “We felt a need to have a Water Summit in person since we are able to do that now-where we can have accurate information from the actual people that would have the information to give to the people. We also felt a need to start the process of having some dialogue about ‘How do we move forward from here?’”
Clarke stated a lot of times there are barriers to people in our community getting accurate information.
“Sometimes people are not technologically savvy, and we sent things out electronically. A lot of people don’t have access to that. Sometimes, especially because of COVID, there was not a lot of face-to-face passing out of information and going door to door. People were kind of leery due to the COVID pandemic. Now that things have gotten better as far as with COVID and things of that nature, we felt the best way was to have a face-to-face summit and to bring that information to people.”
Clarke stated he and McKay are finding a lot of people still have questions.
“One of the main things is ‘Is the water safe to drink? If not, what can we do?’ One of the things we’re finding out is other cities are having the same issues with water, like in Benton Harbor. People want to know, ‘Is it OK?’ and some people are still having problems with the water coming into their houses. For example, some residents are having problems with their skin. They are asking what they can do to resolve the issues.”
According to Clarke, he and McKay want to have regular workshops.
On May 16, resources related to water filter maintenance will be provided. Also, lines of communication will be established. In addition, potential themes for workshops will be identified and the answers to over 100 questions from community members, gathered by various organizations, will be shared.
“We found that a lot of people did not know something as basic as that you should not run hot water through that water filter that you attach to your water faucet because it messes up after that. We will have some basic information on the use of water filters and things you can do to make sure that the lines are clear, that there’s nothing settling in the lines so you can make sure there’s fresh water coming through.”
Clarke said some of the data Flint residents have asked for will be provided, such as data about the line replacements and changing the infrastructure for the water.
Clarke, who said he would eventually like Flint residents to feel good about the water, also said the summit will be driven by the participants there.
“It’s been nine years, and I think some people are still having the same questions.”
