The children impacted by the Flint water crisis have a safe place to turn for a free neurodevelopmental evaluation to understand the impact of the water crisis upon them. Lead can only be detected through a blood test in the first 20 to 30 days of exposure. This means a neurodevelopmental evaluation is necessary to determine where a child may be struggling, as well as to determine their strengths. 

In October 2016, we filed a major class action lawsuit against the State of Michigan and local school districts over the systemic failure to provide an adequate education for children with disabilities in Flint. 

The people of Flint are charged the highest water rates in the country even though the water flowing through their pipes was unsafe to drink and 40 percent of residents live below the poverty line. Compounding the trauma, in May 2017 the City of Flint sent approximately 8,000 notices to residents stating that liens would be placed on their homes if water fees from 2015 — the height of the water crisis — were not paid. Eventually, if the liens were not lifted, they could be used to seize and foreclose on the residents’ homes. 

In April 2017 the City of Flint invited members of the public to a town hall at House of Prayer Missionary Baptist Church to discuss the city’s response to the continuing water crisis.

Flint citizens filed class action lawsuits in both federal and state court for damages caused by the water crisis.  

DETROIT - Attorneys for Flint schoolchildren have reached a historic agreement with the Michigan Department of Education (MDE), Genesee Intermediate School District (GISD) and Flint Community Schools (FCS) to establish an unprecedented program to provide universal screening, and in-depth assessments when necessary, to all Flint children impacted by the Flint water crisis.

In a ruling issued today, U.S. District Court Judge Arthur J. Tarnow allowed a lawsuit to proceed, which contends that state and local school authorities are violating federal education laws by failing to ensure that children in Flint exposed to high levels of lead receive an appropriate public education.

If anyone thought democracy had actually been returned to the residents of Flint, the Receivership Transition Advisory Board (RTAB) appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder just pulled out its hammer and shattered that illusion.

Despite public outcry, the five-person RTAB last week overrode a unanimous city council vote to place a yearlong moratorium on the imposition of liens on homes with delinquent water bills.

This week, a Michigan state oversight board struck down a local moratorium on the issuance of property liens in Flint connected to unpaid bills for contaminated water. The result is that thousands of residents are once again at risk of losing their homes. The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) and the ACLU of Michigan issued the following joint statement in response:

Cross-posted on the Michigan Chronicle

When involuntary manslaughter charges were filed last week against five people connected to the Flint water crisis, prosecutors presented a chilling chronology of events they claim led to 75-year-old Robert Skidmore’s death from Legionnaire’s Disease in 2015.