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Synopsis
Alexandra Fish, Jordyn Giarratano, Frank Garcia, Karoly Fulop
Arizona State University
OGL 343
7 October, 2022
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General subject area your team has decided to address as part of their campaign and the
specific issue.

This topic addresses all of the subject areas given: health, environmental, and social
justice. Health because the residents currently don’t have access to clean drinking water,
environmental because this was instigated by extreme rain due to climate change, and social
justice since the majority of Jackson’s population is black. Since the emergency is occurring at
this moment, we would like to address the effect of water quality on the health of citizens. With
it being an immediate threat to public health, we would like to get clean water to the citizens of
Jackson right away.

The organization is concerned with upgrading Jackson’s aging infrastructure, as the water
system has been deteriorating for a long time. The goal of this organization is to raise awareness
of the ongoing water crisis and its effect on general public health in Jackson, Mississippi while
providing support for the members of the local community during the crisis.

What type of organization has your team decided to be?

The type of organization our team has decided to be is a small group of volunteers. Our
organization’s main focus is to raise awareness about the unhealthy water crisis that is causing
many health issues due to the lack of funding in Jackson, Mississippi. We chose to do a small
group as the organization because the people of the community that volunteer will be passionate
about the subject and will be driven to raise awareness for their specific community that we are
trying to reach. This group of volunteers will help to spread the word to reach the local
government.

What is the name of your organization?

Name of the organization is “Help to Others or H2O”. The inspiration behind our
organization’s name is to provide help to others to have their voices heard in relation to the
ongoing water crisis and its effects on general public health in Jackson, MS. We are a nonprofit
company and our goal is to bring clean and safe water to the affected communities of Jackson,
MS. We were founded with the purpose of helping end the water crisis in our town. We have
solid recommendations for solving the problems and we are working with the local partners,
supporters, and community leaders to find the best resolution possible. Our mission is to make
sure the city can provide all of its citizens with one of life’s basic needs: clean and safe water. We
advocate for and stand united with the United Nations General Assembly’s resolution
recognizing “the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is
essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights” (A/RES/64/292).
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How will your team help the cause?

The organization will help the cause by advocating for putting more money into
improving the water treatment system to get it working for now to support the city, and then a
long term plan for the future so it doesn’t happen again. We will do this by educating those
nationally and in neighboring counties of Jackson's aging infrastructure and to incite a call to
action to local and state governments to make a change. This way we can provide support so
local citizens can have access to safe water, but look for more long term solutions so this doesn’t
happen again. For a current solution we’d like to ask water companies to donate clean drinking
water to the local community. The public campaign will be done through social media to spread
awareness about the aging infrastructure and put pressure on local government officials and
advocate for access to clean water for citizens within the county. We will do so by doing public
outreach with a social media campaign. This will be a quick stop for individuals to learn all
about the issue such as health effects, infrastructural flaws, and ways that they can help the
citizens of Jackson.

What is your public campaign?

The public campaign our organization will utilize will be an engaging and informative
social media platform. Through this we will work to reach a wide audience, informing them on
the current water crisis in Jackson Mississippi. From there we will build support and begin to use
this to help support those affected by the water crisis through public funding and donations while
putting pressure on those in power to make a change or call on state/federal aid. Our small and
devoted network will help to spread awareness by sharing and posting our social media platforms
to help us engage with a wider audience and really work to shine a light on the poor
infrastructure and neglect which has caused this crisis.
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References

Elamroussi, Aya. (2022, September 3). Situation Remains Dire for Residents of Jackson,
Mississippi, as Effort to Restore Water Supply Suffers Setbacks. CNN.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/03/us/jackson-mississippi-water-crisis-saturday/index.html

Rios, Edwin. (2022, September 29). Jackson Water Crisis: Mississippi Accused of ‘Intolerable’
Racial Discrimination. The Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/29/naacp-racial-discrimination-complaint-jacks
on-water-crisis